Humanity long ago shed its mortal skin and developed into beings of pure consciousness. But the Singularity is a thing of the past and the very future of human existence is being threatened. Though the post-humans wield godlike power, they find themselves at war for domination of not just the Milky Way but all galaxies with Haalee, the sentient AI, who is bent on saving the universe from post-human predation.

Pouring your human consciousness into thousands of deadly constructs, the time has come for you to join epic confrontations where countless robotic manifestations of war smash each other into scrap only to be replaced as factories convert all available matter into a steady stream of fresh war machines. In this war for ever-more intelligence, where control of matter to fuel the expansion of computing power is the only goal, the struggle will inevitably consume the galaxy...one planet at a time.

Stardock announced that the v2.4 update for Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation, as well as a free Co-op Map Pack DLC, will be available on August 24, 2017.

"This is a major update for the game," said Stardock CEO Brad Wardell. "Nearly every aspect has been improved from the UI, to balance, to modding capabilities. As a thank you to our multiplayer community, we're also releasing a free DLC that includes maps that are specifically meant to play co-op with your friends."

v2.4 also features UI changes, campaign and scenario updates, improvements to the overall gameplay experience, and more. Here are some details about the features that have been added:

• UI: A full menu reworking makes the game more accessible with new orbital ability icons, improved chat displays, and more.
• Campaign and Scenarios: Several scenarios and all three campaigns have been updated to refine difficulty levels, adjust to the changes of previous updates, and improve
• Modding: Modders have access to more parts of the game and will benefit from several changes that makes modding more intuitive.
• Balance: Changes to air units, anti-air, drones, and dreadnoughts will improve strategic diversity. The Substrate receives some additional changes in order to differentiate themselves from the PHC.
• Vulkan Support: This graphics-rendering API offers enhanced OS compatibility and performance.
• Updated Benchmark: The benchmark has been updated so that players can see how well their PC runs under Vulkan.

Support for Vulkan, a graphics rendering API that improves OS compatibility and performance, is also included in v2.4. Ashes of the Singularity was one of the first DirectX 12 games. With this update for Escalation, the game continues to bring cutting edge technology to its players by adding support for Vulkan.

The free Co-Op Map Pack DLC also releases with v2.4. The DLC includes 9 brand new maps deliberately designed for cooperative play. Spawn points are placed to keep teammates close together to allow for combined attacks and strategies. Clearly defined resources for each player prevents any fighting over spawn locations or expansion opportunities and keep the maps fair and balanced for everyone.

The Co-Op Map Pack DLC is completely free and will be available on Steam or through Stardock.

A real-time strategy game on a scale never before seen, where even the smallest units have diverse, independent weapons systems on them and every shot fired has its own targeting solution and ballistics model, Ashes of the Singularity explores entirely new and engaging gameplay fundamentals coupled with jaw-dropping visuals. With literally thousands of units acting independently on screen at the same time, players are introduced to a familiar infrastructure of real-time strategy gameplay while focusing their attention not on small engagements between a handful of units, but instead waging large-scale wars across multiple simultaneous battlefronts.

Ashes of the Singularity offers innovative multiplayer alongside its epic single-player campaign that tells the tale of the Singularity and complications arising from humanity's evolution away from physical form. League structures, leaderboards, stats and other features will be announced as development continues, powered by Stardock's cloud-based Project Tachyon metagaming services (led by lead architect Adrian Luff, who helped build Blizzard's Battle.net).

Key Features:

• Massive numbers of units in the world that can be easily organized into armies that allow players to fight wars across several different fronts simultaneously.
• The world's first multi-core real-time AI allowing for a non-cheating AI that can beat most players.
• A story-driven, non-linear campaign that tells the story of a United Earth in the 23rd century.
• A focus on single player replayability while including a wealth of multiplayer features.
• The future-proofed Nitrous 3D engine whose 64-bit, multi-core foundation supports DirectX 11, DirectX 12 and multiple GPUs.

Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation retails on Steam or through Stardock for $39.99.