Ashes of the Singularity Escalation picks up major free update

I had a lot of positive things to say about Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation (my review here) a few months ago, and today developer Stardock is giving that already-awesome product a bit more polish with a major update. In this update, the massive RTS will pick up two new Juggernaut-class ships, a new fully-voiced campaign called “Genesis” some game balancing, and more. The price? Free. Here’s Stardock CEO Brad Wardell on what to expect in this new update:

“We’re really excited to introduce the Juggernauts,” said Stardock CEO Brad Wardell. “Fans of the game have been asking about them since we teased them several months ago, and we know these won’t disappoint them. These warships are pricey to build – you won’t see them in quick matches – but the cost is worth it. It takes some serious firepower to stop one of these guys once they hit the field.”

Unlike Dreadnoughts, Juggernaut class ships do not cap at level 5. Juggernauts can level indefinitely and receive a 5% bonus to health and damage with every rank up. v2.3 comes with two of the massive warships, one for the PHC and one for the Substrate:

PHC – The Leonidas: A heavy Dreadnought destroyer, this ship boasts the most powerful weapon ever mounted on a construct. It can tear Dreadnoughts apart while using its rail cannons and auto cannons for defense.

Substrate – The Nest of the Queen: This massive warship summons an entire army of frigates to overwhelm the enemy with rapidly-replacing assault and repair drones, all while under the safety of a shield regenerator.

In addition to the new ships, v2.3 contains a brand new, fully-voiced campaign. “Genesis” continues the Ashes story and features six new missions. The new Juggernauts are featured in the campaign and the challenges of the high-level difficulties have been increased to please more advanced players.
“We recognize that our older campaigns are pretty unbalanced,” said Wardell. “That’s why we decided to go through and adjust them for this update. Players will find that they now have access to certain ships and orbitals that weren’t there before. The maps have been adjusted to make more sense, and those who thought the higher level difficulties were “too easy” before will find that the AI is a lot more challenging now.”

We’ve got a half dozen screenshots of the new Dreadnoughts in action, as well as a video giving you a look at these behemoths in action. Owners of the game can pick up the update immediately on Steam.

[unitegallery ashes23]