Skip to main content
AI War: Fleet Command Game Cover

About

AI War: Fleet Command is a single player and multiplayer open world real-time strategy game with warfare and science fiction themes. It was developed by Arcen Games and was released on October 21, 2009. It received positive reviews from both critics and players.

In AI War: Fleet Command, you lead a small human resistance force against an AI overlord that has defeated humanity in a brutal war. With faster ships and automated defenses, your mission is to outsmart and defeat the AI subcommanders, avoiding detection by central processing until it's too late. This challenging real-time strategy game demands strategic thinking and careful resource management to overcome overwhelming odds.

Skip User Reviews

84%
Audience ScoreBased on 1,214 reviews
gameplay51 positive mentions
grinding12 negative mentions

  • AI War: Fleet Command offers a unique and engaging gameplay experience with a focus on strategic depth and tactical decision-making.
  • The game features a highly intelligent AI that adapts to player actions, providing a challenging and rewarding experience.
  • With extensive customization options and a variety of expansions, players can tailor their gameplay to suit their preferences, ensuring high replayability.
  • The steep learning curve and complex mechanics can be overwhelming for new players, making it difficult to get into the game.
  • The user interface is often criticized for being cluttered and unintuitive, which can hinder the overall experience.
  • Graphics are dated and simplistic, which may deter some players looking for a more visually appealing game.
  • gameplay
    203 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay of this game is characterized by its unique mechanics, including a dynamic AI threat system that escalates with player aggression, offering a variety of strategies and customization options. While the steep learning curve and complex mechanics can be daunting, players who invest time in understanding the game find it rewarding and engaging, with a blend of RTS, tower defense, and 4X elements. Despite its dated graphics and occasionally overwhelming interface, the depth and strategic variety make it a compelling choice for fans of the genre.

    • “There are lots of options in the settings to alter the game mechanics and many different possible play styles and strategies to win.”
    • “The ability to customize your approach and develop unique strategies adds a layer of personalization that keeps the gameplay fresh and exciting.”
    • “The strategic depth, the sheer amount of content, unpredictable AI, and enjoyable mechanics are the reasons I keep coming back to this game.”
    • “I found myself relying heavily on external guides to grasp the game's mechanics, which was a bit of a letdown.”
    • “The game looks and feels amateurish and cheap, and its mechanics are weird and dumb.”
    • “Where the game is weak is the game mechanics are poorly explained when you start out, the interface design is highly unintuitive and rather ugly, and the overall graphics just passable.”
  • graphics
    177 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of "AI War: Fleet Command" are widely regarded as outdated and simplistic, often described as utilitarian 2D visuals that lack modern polish. While some players find the minimalistic design functional for managing large-scale battles, many express disappointment with the overall aesthetic, suggesting it detracts from the experience. Despite the graphical shortcomings, the game's depth and strategic gameplay are praised, indicating that players who prioritize mechanics over visuals may still find it rewarding.

    • “The graphics may not be top notch, but you forget about that 10 minutes in once you realize how deep the rabbit hole goes.”
    • “Don't let the graphics fool you, this game is one of the deepest rock-paper-scissors games you will ever play.”
    • “While the graphics are somewhat lacking, the AI is insanely hard on the max settings.”
    • “The graphics are not something to behold anymore because of the aging, but the implementation of the GUI and other features are shoddy and have rendered the game something to avoid.”
    • “The graphics are borderline abhorrent, primarily using royalty-free recycled assets from an old game called Tyrian.”
    • “The graphics are terrible even for an indie game.”
  • music
    77 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game has received widespread acclaim, with many users praising its beauty, variety, and ability to enhance the overall experience. Reviewers describe the soundtrack as epic, calming, and even emotionally stirring, often noting that it stands out as one of the best aspects of the game. However, some players have mentioned issues with repetitiveness and occasional grating effects, but these criticisms are overshadowed by the general appreciation for the music's quality and its contribution to the game's atmosphere.

    • “The music is surprisingly calming, the graphics are simple but utilitarian, and there are so many customization options that you could easily play this game a thousand different ways.”
    • “This game is beautiful, and the soundtrack even more so.”
    • “The game also features an excellent soundtrack which works very well in setting the tone for the game.”
    • “The game quite frequently just goes to a black screen and system cursor while music continues and the game keeps focus so alt-tab etc. don't work.”
    • “I felt like the graphics lacked style and were uninteresting, the controls too cumbersome, the text-based non-interactive tutorial too tedious to follow, the music grating.”
    • “The music is a little repetitive.”
  • replayability
    52 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game boasts exceptional replayability, with players highlighting its vast strategic options, customizable setups, and challenging AI that create unique experiences in each playthrough. Many reviewers note that the game's depth and complexity, along with its support for multiplayer, contribute to its near-infinite replay value. Overall, it is regarded as one of the most replayable RTS games available, offering hundreds or even thousands of hours of engaging gameplay.

    • “A great many 'oh that's what I should have done' moments mean the learning never stops, and the number of setup options gives you near infinite replayability.”
    • “The game has incredible replayability and customization value even before the additional content; each map is not only a different experience in the technical sense but unique in its feel.”
    • “This game is stupendously configurable in its setup, which can be somewhat overwhelming when you first start, but makes for an extraordinarily replayable game, even more so with the expansions, rich in choices, threats and options.”
    • “Chock-full of emergent complexity and replayability, this is a game designed to keep people like me happily occupied for many hours and many playthroughs.”
    • “An amazing RTS, where the AI can and will profit from the slightest mistake you make... thanks to the random maps and starting ships, the replay value of this game is sky-high!”
  • story
    44 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's story is minimal and often described as background noise, yet it evokes strong emotions and creates memorable experiences through gameplay rather than traditional narrative elements. While some players appreciate the emotional weight and thematic depth, others criticize the lack of a substantial storyline, with many missions feeling disconnected from a cohesive plot. Overall, the game offers a unique blend of strategy and emotional engagement, despite its sparse narrative structure.

    • “The inspirational music and background story.”
    • “It is rare for a game with a story that is merely in the background quietly there, but not really required for you to understand the game to be such an emotional rollercoaster, nor for it to instill in you love of the faction you play and hatred of the faceless AI, simply off the way the game plays out.”
    • “The 'story' behind this fighting is that AI populations have taken the world we know (or better the universe) and the human species has to recover and fight back.”
    • “It manages to be one of the most emotional RTS games I've ever played, despite not really having much of a story at all.”
    • “As for the campaign, the base game does not include storyline missions.”
    • “They put so much effort into building the strategy side of things that there literally is no plot or immersion.”
  • grinding
    14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players generally find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious, particularly in the later stages where managing extensive territories and repetitive battles can become monotonous. While some appreciate the strategic depth and complexity, many feel that the need for meticulous resource management and repetitive tasks detracts from the overall enjoyment, making the experience feel more like an economic grind than engaging gameplay. Despite these criticisms, a few players enjoy the challenge of micro-management and the strategic planning required to succeed.

    • “No tedious micro-management, clever and devious AI opponents, engaging storyline, and epic games that can last well over a week.”
    • “A good game which becomes a bit tedious in the later parts of the game.”
    • “You need about 60 to 80 systems in a playthrough to enable you to do what you need to win. By the 15th system, it's rinse and repeat, grinding your forces to half or a quarter with each win, replace, wait, next system... over and over.”
    • “One of those games where it doesn't feel like you're fighting battles so much as grinding economies against your opponent.”
  • emotional
    7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Despite its minimal story, the game is praised for its intense emotional impact, likened to a brutal chess match that evokes deep feelings of love and hatred through gameplay alone. Players report experiencing a significant emotional rollercoaster, highlighting the game's ability to connect them to their faction and elicit strong reactions against the AI. Overall, it stands out as an emotionally charged experience, even for those who may not typically engage with narrative-driven games.

    • “It manages to be one of the most emotional RTS games I've ever played, despite not really having much of a story at all.”
    • “It is rare for a game with a story that is merely in the background, quietly there, but not really required for you to understand the game to be such an emotional rollercoaster, nor for it to instill in you love of the faction you play and hatred of the faceless AI, simply off the way the game plays out.”
    • “10/10 would cry again.”
  • atmosphere
    6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's atmosphere is described as unique and engaging, enhanced by its mechanical feel and effective music, though some players find it lacking in depth and visual appeal. While the strategic variety and challenging AI contribute positively, the overall experience can feel somewhat disjointed or underwhelming, leading to mixed reviews on its atmospheric impact.

    • “Unique game, unique atmosphere.”
    • “It has a cunning and difficult AI to play against, a huge amount of strategic variety, some great mechanics (like AI progress - so the more you conquer, the more resources you have - but the more vicious the AI's response) and is also very atmospheric, with a cool, mechanical feel.”
    • “Also have to add, the music and atmosphere really bring this game together.”
    • “Terrible graphics, blob-like tactics, and somewhat boring spaces of time building things up; the gameplay doesn't really build the intended atmosphere.”
    • “Atmosphere: 3/5”
  • optimization
    6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Overall, the game's optimization is a mixed bag; while the UI and customization options are highly praised for their brilliance and years of improvement, users report occasional performance issues, particularly in cooperative play and network stability. The graphics strike a balance between performance and aesthetics, offering beautiful visuals during intense moments, but some find them simplistic at times. Overall, most players experience minimal performance issues, especially in single-player modes.

    • “The brilliantly optimized UI and customizations brought to its current state by years of improvements is the best there is in any strategy game.”
    • “The graphics are sometimes a bit simplistic, but you can get some beautiful visuals during intense fleet battles, and its performance footprint can get pretty small.”
    • “RTS with no performance issues to worry about.”
    • “But the creators lacked the vision to make this game great in coop (lots of bugs, bad network performance), an official localization for the most common languages is missing, and the campaign length is way too long for the usual LAN party.”
    • “Overall a very pleasurable experience, with the only downside being performance at times.”
    • “The graphics are not excellent, but it's a compromise between performance and graphics.”
  • humor
    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game is a mixed bag; while some players find the AI's witty remarks amusing, others feel the overall experience lacks engagement, leading to boredom. Additionally, the ease of obtaining achievements adds a layer of comedic relief, though it may not be enough to keep players awake.

    • “You must have missed that day in tactical school," says the AI, chuckling to itself.”
    • “However, the achievements are hilariously easy to cheese.”
  • stability
    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's stability is mixed; while it runs well on older systems without significant glitches, users report persistent bugs and balance issues that detract from the overall experience. Despite its ability to handle large-scale battles, the presence of ongoing technical problems leaves players feeling unsatisfied.

    • “This game runs smoothly on older systems, with no glitches, and doesn't require high-end graphics cards. It performs exceptionally well even during battles with thousands of ships.”
    • “The stability of this game is impressive; I haven't encountered any crashes or bugs, making for a seamless gaming experience.”
    • “I appreciate how stable the game is, allowing for long play sessions without any interruptions or performance issues.”
    • “The UI is full of glitches and annoying details that distract me from learning the game.”
    • “But it's always buggy, always unbalanced, and therefore always a bit unsatisfying.”
    • “This game will work on older systems, but it's always buggy and unbalanced.”
Skip Critic Reviews
Skip Game Offers

Buy AI War: Fleet Command

99h Median play time
185h Average play time
20-220h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 15 analyzed playthroughs
Skip Videos

Videos

Skip Games Like AI War: Fleet Command

Games Like AI War: Fleet Command

AI War 2 Image
Infested Planet Image
Endless Space Image
Stellaris Image
Galactic Civilizations III Image
Skip FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

AI War: Fleet Command is a open world real-time strategy game with warfare and science fiction themes.

AI War: Fleet Command is available on PC, Mac OS, Windows and Linux.

On average players spend around 185 hours playing AI War: Fleet Command.

AI War: Fleet Command was released on October 21, 2009.

AI War: Fleet Command was developed by Arcen Games.

AI War: Fleet Command has received positive reviews from both players and critics. Most players liked this game for its gameplay but disliked it for its graphics.

AI War: Fleet Command is a single player game with multiplayer and local co-op support.

Similar games include AI War 2, Infested Planet, Endless Space, Stellaris, Galactic Civilizations III and others.