TBS Age of Wonders: Planetfall - AoW gone to space

[rvm1975]

It looks like alpha centauri but from triumph. I was not fun of it or either the latest one remake from firaxis. Comparing to fantasy age or even civ series - quantity of techs was very limited, like 3 times

 

[Citizen]

It looks like alpha centauri but from triumph. I was not fun of it or either the latest one remake from firaxis. Comparing to fantasy age or even civ series - quantity of techs was very limited, like 3 times

"Planetfall", yeah. Just a coincidence.

 

[orcinator]

The alien creature does look overdesigned. Aliens can be literally anything, they can be clouds made out of microscopic organisms or organic geometric shapes that reflect light in strange ways, yet devs default to very specific, animal-like designs.

People still expect visual mediums to have alien aliens in the current year+2?

 

[orcinator]

Here's some more info -

"Diplomacy revamped and includes elements of other PDX games, like causus belli"

Wait
what?

 

[thesheeep]

Sounds like it is oriented less towards war only and offers more other options, maybe?

Why not, I'm all for changes in later titles of longer game series.
As long as it doesn't become a straight Civ copy - and it really doesn't look like it.

 

[Lacrymas]

Casus belli is basically "a justification for war". I don't know what they mean by that here, though.

 

[orcinator]

Sounds like it is oriented less towards war only and offers more other options, maybe?

Seems like a weird addition to a game where everything is completely focused on war.

 

[Lacrymas]

Maybe they are adding other win conditions, who knows.

 

[Raghar]

Here's some more info -

"Diplomacy revamped and includes elements of other PDX games, like causus belli"

Wait
what?

That reminds me of standard socialistic haircut, standard socialistic house, standard socialistic dog.

When they have standard Paradox game, they try to add the same thing into every other. For example Stellaris got several changes in gameplay to make it more similar to EU IV.

 

[thesheeep]

Sounds like it is oriented less towards war only and offers more other options, maybe?

Seems like a weird addition to a game where everything is completely focused on war.

Maybe Planetfall won't be solely focused on war.

 

[Lacrymas]

This can make the campaign quite interesting btw. Maps having several objectives that you can work towards and every one of them wins you the map. It won't be bad if they have some meta stuff that carries over the entire campaign, like SC2. Even with its shitty writing and nonexistent aesthetic, at least the campaign was varied enough and designed well with the bonus objectives giving you more resources towards the meta upgrades. A lot of games can learn from that.

 

[MilesBeyond]

I was super disappointed by the announcement, but seeing the feature list got me more excited. They look like they're really emphasizing fleshing out the tactical combat system, which is the best part of AoW anyway. Cover mechanics, destructible terrain, more abilities and options, it definitely looks like it's going to be an exciting (if maybe nu-X-Com-tinged) battle approach.

So right now here are the odds I'm setting:

3:1 Super bumpy start but a solid game after a few patches and/or expansions
5:1 Unplayable trainwreck
10:1 One of the greatest 4X games ever


I've said several times that AoW 3 is divisive because it's a better strategy game than its predecessors, but a worse fantasy game. If they deliver on their promises, I think Planetfall will continue this trend - even stronger mechanically, but even less interesting in terms of lore and worldbuilding. Which is kind of a shame, because as much as I have a blast with AoW 3, that worldbuilding is really what made the world magical.

 

[fantadomat]

I was super disappointed by the announcement

You were expecting something,LoL !?



1:1 The game will be mediocre sci-fi 4x shlock that none will play or care about.

 

[rvm1975]

I've said several times that AoW 3 is divisive because it's a better strategy game than its predecessors, but a worse fantasy game. If they deliver on their promises, I think Planetfall will continue this trend - even stronger mechanically, but even less interesting in terms of lore and worldbuilding. Which is kind of a shame, because as much as I have a blast with AoW 3, that worldbuilding is really what made the world magical.

From their latest interviews they are declaring that planetfall will return back to race diversity (not class diversity like in aow3). Also tactical battles will have some new-xcom mechanics.

And we have very good example of great game with very nice and unique lore. Also that game has good and diverse strategies for expanse. It is Endless Space 2 but this game has less players then Stellaris

 

[Maculo]

I will keep tabs on this one. I dabbled with AoW 2&3, but never finished all the campaigns. The random map generator in campaigns sounds nice though.

Maybe Planetfall won't be solely focused on war.

Romance option confirmed.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

To be fair, Star Trek is limited by the constraints of its budget and the need to have its aliens playable by members of the Film Actors' Guild. Star Wars actually had some fairly alien aliens that WEREN'T simply humans with rubber forehead appliances, with aliens that absolutely did NOT breathe the same atmosphere or communicate in human language: You saw aliens that were wearing breathing gear to enable them to breathe in the same room as the main cast, and aliens that just communicated with each other via funny noises and were simply incapable of human speech.

like... umh... like http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Breen or http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Tholian ?

 

[Lacrymas]

Even the Changelings were a liquid ocean-like amalgamation of individuals.

 

[Life of the Party]

 

[Lacrymas]

Is there a too long, didn't watch version/list of interesting points?

 

[BING XI LAO]

The graphics look awfully generic, but I hear they are rolling back some of aow3's mistakes. hits&misses are back, flying units that actually fly and aren't struck be walking melee troops are back. On the other hand, they won't have multiple map levels, which is a serious failure. They will need to add a lot of truly innovative stuff to make up for that.

I still play AoW1 and AoW2, we still run multiplayer PBEM games at the https://af.gog.com/forum/age_of_wonders_series?as=1649904300 forum if anyone is interested. I just couldn't get myself to play AoW3, it was nicely balanced but there were some dumbed down mechanics, and godawful HOMMXVIII-type super generic fantasy graphics, and it constantly reminded me of civ5, which I hate.

Also, mod tools will be released at launch! That's very, very good news.

 

[Van-d-all]

It looks like alpha centauri but from triumph. I was not fun of it or either the latest one remake from firaxis. Comparing to fantasy age or even civ series - quantity of techs was very limited, like 3 times

"Planetfall", yeah. Just a coincidence.

This is definitely PDX trying to capitalize on Beyond Earth flop and Alpha Centauri nostalgia. Given how uninspired the factions seem to be, I wouldn't be too surprised if it's actually a last minute reskin of a title that was supposed to be plain fantasy just like the previous games.

 

[Lacrymas]

I don't think it's a last minute change, they've been saying they are working on a non-fantasy game for a while. Or at least a game that isn't like AoW, but would appeal to AoW fans.

 

[fantadomat]

I don't think it's a last minute change, they've been saying they are working on a non-fantasy game for a while. Or at least a game that isn't like AoW, but would appeal to AoW fans.

Well this game looks a lot like fantasy to me....with a mix of sci-fi.

 

[Lacrymas]

I actually can't find an old enough citation of where they stated it's not going to be fantasy. I might be misremembering and think they've said that a longer time ago than they have. I also don't trust Paradox a lot, sooo.

 

[Suicidal]

Sad to see that most people are hung up by the sci-fi setting rather than the fact that it'll probably be just as shallow as AoW3 as it seems to be a reskin of that.

AoW3 with full DLC and patching was the best game in the series by far.

I liked AoW3 alot but I still think the best game position is occupied by AoW2 SM.

hits&misses are back

That was one of the things I liked most about AoW3. RNG cancer has no place in a strategy game.