First things first, gonna list the enabled mods here. These obviously won't be able to run with the Quick Play games. But they can be enabled for the Custom Start campaigns.

* Achievement Restorer, by Badger:
It restores the ability to get the achievements while playing with mods. I think it's more fun that way.

* AI Shield Generators, by cml:
Adds shield generators on AI homeworlds and bastion worlds, these protect Dire Guard Posts, and the shield generators themselves are invulnerable until you destroy the Command Stations on those planets. Or you can destroy them by hacking.
Normally I wouldn't enable this, but with the additional hacking points from AIP, this wouldn't necessarily be too unbalanced, I think.

* AIP for ExoWar Units, by Erenussocrates:
With this mod, any exowar unit beyond tier 1 that you destroy incurs an AIP penalty. Makes the challenge more realistic.

* Biblical Angel Names for ExoWar Units, by Erenussocrates:
This is a purely cosmetic mod that changes all Exowar unit names into biblical angel and demon names, for the added mystery and fear. It can also work together with ExoWar Overhaul mod, too.

* Devourest Golem, by Dismiss:
Devourer Golem is really weak in the base game.

* Dyson Sphere Leech, by Erenussocrates:
I didn't like the fact that you couldn't leech energy off of a Dyson Sphere even if you went the trouble of building a base there and defended against relentless ailen ships. Now you get to steal some power from them. Also this synergizes well with my Fuel Rebalance mod, as that mod creates extra energy maintenance.

* Exodian Blade, by Erenussocrates:
Expands upon the Fallen Spire campaign, and makes the Exodian Blade buildable, but not at the same time as the Spire Transceiver. Good run replayability.

* ExoWar Overhaul, by Lord of Nothing:
Brings more variety to the exogalactic units the AI brings, good.

* Expert-: Fleet Scaling, by donblas:
Even though I'll be playing on Humanity Ascendant (because that enables me to edit the campaign setup as I like, and the other difficulties don't as much), if I just played on Expert, I would still enable this.

* Extended Ship Variants, by -NR- Sir Limbo:
More variety for basic ships. More variety is always good.

* Fuel Rebalance, by Erenussocrates:
It's the first mod that I've made for this game, and I strongly felt that there was a need for this as I played more games with fuel enabled. It removes the radon requirement for basic turrets and the bare essentials, and makes fuel stations require power. Also brings new fuel buildings to mark 7 Spire Cities and the Zenith Trader. If I find it too unbalanced, I might still update it down the line yet.

* Hydral Federation, by StarKelp:
Cameo from another Arcen game that is set in the same universe, so that would be cool.
Also,
* Hydral Federation Rebalance, by Arphar

* Micro Mod Collection, by -NR- Sir Limbo:
-Research Expedition sounds good, kind of gives the vibe of how the Research Points were mined in the original AI War.
-Distribution Node Variants sounds cool. It makes some of them less important as opposed to the classic "get it where you see it".
-No opinion on Energy Converter, Reinforcement Seeder and AI Command Station Types.

* More Starting Fleets, by Zweihand:
This is meant to be played in tandem with the option to randomize the starting fleet, so there is more variation in gameplay.

* More System Defenders, by CRCGamer:
Again, more choices is better. Also classic stationary ships always felt lonely and lacking in variance.

* Outguard Party, by Dismiss:
The most important and notable feature for me is (that is, according to the info that the mod author gave me), this mod brings new Doomsday tier nukes from the original game back in the form of new Outguard allies, apparently.

* Points of Interest, by Dismiss:
Well, sounds interesting. Needs to be added to a match as a faction.

* Reclaimers, by Dismiss:
A faction that can open temporary wormholes to distant parts of the galaxy, yes. The closest it can get to the player built warp gates from the classic, probably.

* Sapper Alterations, by Obscuris:
Sappers get boring in vanilla. Now they should be more variable.

* Sidekicks, by Badger:
New playable factions and new ally friends, deemed to be unofficial last DLC, might as well be obligatory for a more diverse gameplay.

* Visible CPA Bunkers, by Erenussocrates:
In the base game, if you are playing with CPA bunkers, when CPA bunkers spawn in a planet you've already explored, they don't show up in the galaxy view. This mod fixes that.

X Civilian Industry, by StarKelp:
DON'T USE IT UNTIL IT IS UPDATED.
REDACTED: Another faction to be added that represents the civilians in your empire, sounds pretty good to me. They boost the player's defense and economy.
The problem is that, the ships that come with the mod doesn't make use of the stacking mechanics that came with the later updates, really hurting the performance by a lot.

First of all, the campaign type will be Humanity Ascendant, because it provides the most freedom in editing the settings. But no worries, we will make it hardcore ourselves.


On the map tab, make sure to set the Desired Planets to 120 (80 is default), as I will be adding a lot of new stuff. If we are feeling extra wild, we can also choose to use 170, 200 or 240 planets options as well, depending on how good the computer CPU is. (the planet cap has to be removed in the Settings)
We are also not cracking the number of planets all the way up to 300 because according to the dev it might cause some integer overflow that is unrelated to how well your CPU is.


On the factions tab, for the player Human Empire, make sure to set the "Number of Cryogenic Pods" to 30, and "Number of Home Settlements" to 5.
Also set the starting fleet, both starting Battlestations, and the supporting fleet as "Random".
Also if we are playing Custom Start, make the first AI "Random Any", if we have a second AI, make it "Adaptive Any".
Similarly, if we are playing on Custom Start, add "Points of Interest" as Uncommon, and add "Reclaimers", "AI Risk Analyzer" and "Astro Train" as factions to every game.
Note that these can only be visible after you turn the "Show Advanced Galaxy And Faction Options" setting on in the "General".


The following are in the Options tab, and they are different from default settings:


>General

Show Advanced Galaxy And Faction Options: On
(We need it in order to change the player faction values)

Max Planets To Scout At Once: 8 (vanilla)
(But if the number of planets is 170 or more, set it to 10)

Ironman: On
(Autosaves only, as if there is another way to play this game, seriously :P)

Doomsday Mode: On
(A random planet is gonna get destroyed, hell yeah)

Doomsday Interval: 120
(Even though we like it, no need to go too crazy)

Doomsday Interval Increase: 60
(leave it at default)

>Map Population

Human Homeworld Planet Grav Well Size: Vast (254k)

General Planet Grav Well Size: Reasonable Random

AI Bastion Planet Grav Well Size: Vast (254k)

AI Homeworld Planet Grav Well Size: Colossal (400k)

^ (Keep the Human Homeworld, General Planet, AI Bastion, and AI Homeworld planet grav well size settings vanilla. Use these only if we want to go crazy)

Dark Zenith Planet Grav Well Size: Cramped (36k) (vanilla)

Bonus Random Factions: Totally Random
(adds a random faction with a totally random difficulty)

Bonus Random Faction Allegiances: Balanced
(so we get surprise enemies and allies alike)

Beacons Enabled: On
Seed AI Civil War Triggers: On
(These two are enabled by default anyway, but still wanted to make it extra clear)

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*These following options inside this block are only to be set if we are on the 170 planets setting or more. Otherwise, they will stay as default*

Regular Fleets to Seed: 1.25x (default is 1x)

Officer Fleets to Seed: 1.25x (default is 1x)

Turret Schematic Servers to Seed: 1.25x (default is 1x)

Other Defensive Schematic Servers to Seed: 1.25x (default is 1x)

Advanced Research Stations to Seed: 1.25x (default is 1x)

Base Tech Vaults to Seed: 5 (default is 3)

Fleet Research Stations to Seed: 1.25x (default is 1x)

Citadels to Seed: 1.25x (default is 1x)

Support Fleets to Seed: 1.25x (default is 1x)

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Max Normal Data Centers: 9
Max Major Data Centers: 5
(These make more sense on harder games, might lower the values a bit if I find it too unbalanced)

Max Distribution Nodes: 12
(default is 6)

>AI Waves

Wave Advance Warning: Medium
(but if I feel like making the campaign harder, then "None")

Allow Cross Planet Waves: Off
(Default is Off, just wanted to make it clear. It makes the AI be able to spawn waves from planets 1 jump away. Only enable if you want to make the campaign harder)

>AI Behavior

Enhanced Overlord: On
(More challenging final battle)

Enable Showdown Devices: On
(Artifacts to disable AI's Warp Gates, resulting in all out war within local galaxy)

Extragalactic War: Player Multiplier : 2
Dire CPA: On
Ultimate Fortress: On
Brutal Guardian Lairs: 1
Venators: On
(These values are there to make it more similar to Expert level)

>Allies

Repair NPC Allied Units: On
Share Allied NPC Vision: On
(These are self explanatory)

>Balance

Humans: Use Distributed Resource Generation Mode : On
(Metal Harvesters are the things that generate the income now rather than Command Centers)

Human Ships Use Fuel: On
(Logistician Mode)

Disable Fleet Wide Bonuses: Off
(This is off by default, still wanted to make it clear)

Use Harsh Turret Ranges on Non-Human Planets: On
(Nerfing beach-heading, also affects your world if Command Center has died too)

When Crippled: Bail Out To The Nearest Home Planet : Off
(I'm not sure about how this will affect the actual battles, I'm keeping it default as Off for now)

Cost Of Repairing Crippled Transports: 6x
Lost Hacking Points When Unit Crippled: 10
(These three are here to make it feel more like I'm playing a more traditional RTS game within the AI War 2, where the losses are committed)

Battlestation Direct Upgrades Cost More: On
Command Station Direct Upgrade Cost More: On
Engineering Upgrades Cost More: On
(Again, Expert difficulty values)

Humans Can Tractor Enemies Through Wormholes: On
(On by default, wanted to emphasize)

Non-Player Nasty Picks Take Less Damage: On
Non-Player Guard Posts Take Less Damage: On
(These make more sense with the surplus Hacking Points that we will be getting)

Beachheading Is More Expensive: On

Can Selectively Claim Planets: Off
(If you destroy the AI Command Center with the Golem on it, you will suffer the Golem's AIP as well even before taking the planet)

Permadeath for Officers: On
(Deathwish value, and committed losses)

>Extended

Defeat Or Suppress All Hostile Minor Factions: On
(Game doesn't end immediately after eliminating the AI, if the minor enemy factions have bases, have to take care of them too)

Homeworlds Are Safe: On
(Only win the game if there are no hostiles in your homeworld)

Starting AIP: 0 (default 10)
Periodic AIP: 1
Periodic AIP Interval: 20
(This is to make it so the player can't cozy up in their planets and play it like a sandbox game, time has to be limited in relation to finite resources, like in classic RTS games. The value may be changed if it's found to be unbalanced)

Hacking Points from AIP (%) : 20
(Now this is wonderful, because this makes the game more similar to original AI War once again. And this complements a bunch of other difficulty changes I've made that made more use of Hacking Points. The value is subject to change if I find it to be too unbalanced.)

Planetary Science Point Variance (%) : 15
(Not each planet has to have the same scientific discovery value, realistically)

>Necromancer

Crippling Flagship Costs HaP: On
(So that necromancers also suffer the hacking point penalty from the flagship crippling)

*Continuing to set the game up from "Options" tab, these following settings in this section are only to be set if we are playing on Custom Start. Otherwise, they will stay as default*


>AI Shield Generators

Allied Factions Can Overload Core Shields: On

>Outguard

Outguard Beacons to Seed: 8
(Only if we are on 170 planet galaxy setting or more. Otherwise it's the default 6.)

Outguard Per Beacon: 2 (Default is 1)

Outguard Cost Scaling: 1x (Default is 0.25x)