Age of Wonders : Planetfall - Catch all

Nice! Preloading now. Got the day off of work Wednesday, I plan to stay glued to this game all diddly dang day.

I've got mine preloaded. Hopefully at least as good as AoW 3.

Reviews incoming! I'm pretty excited now. Even the reserved one (PC World) still seems to really be enjoying the game.

Explorminate.com
Well, I’ll just cut to the chase: Planetfall is a damn-fine game that easily surpasses every previous Age of Wonders game from my perspective. Marrying AoW3’s combat system with fantastic world building, on par with Amplitude Studios’ Endless series or even the beloved Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri, Planetfall feels like the 4X game that I’ve always wanted. The developers have done an exceptional job of giving the player more agency by incorporating deeper city management, an interesting sector expansion mechanic, and more detailed diplomacy. All of those elements combine to create one of the most engaging and entertaining 4X experiences I’ve ever had.

PC Gamer
Age of Wonders: Planetfall, while a bit opaque in some areas, is the most entertaining 4X I've played in years.

PC World
Going over my notes for this review, I realized I have a lot of complaints about Age of Wonders: Planetfall—some minor, some not-so-minor. Planetfall is a flawed game and when I get too close to it, when I start digging into the details, those flaws loom large. Pull back a bit though, and I’m having a hell of a lot of fun with this space-faring strategy/tactics mashup. I know the flaws are there, I can enumerate them for you—and will, later on. But I’ve played 15 hours of Planetfall with no signs of slowing, in spite of the flaws.

I really should call in sick tomorrow.

Running Man wrote:

I really should call in sick tomorrow.

You're looking a bit ill, yes. It'd be a shame to get others sick.

My stomach is feeling a bit unsettled, but I think I'll start work tomorrow and see how things go. Might have to call it a day about 9:30 AM, though, just a hunch.

I've been reading over the factions, The Assembly looks pretty interesting; cyborgs who assimilate the bodies of their enemies.

^They look cool. I confess I've intentionally not read all that much about the gameplay, with the idea that I'd like to explore it on my own as I play the game. However, I just spent a few minutes watching the developer play (he's live now) in this last hour before release, and the combat looks really deep and engaging. I'm excited.

I can’t wait for this! Agreed on the Assembly faction. They come across as a horror flick with the gruesome salvaging of others.

I'm in. So far so good. Game loaded quickly and seems to run smoothly. I've only played 10-15 minutes of the tutorial before lunch, but I'm liking what I see so far.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/codO7FG.jpg)

Godzilla Blitz wrote:

I'm in. So far so good. Game loaded quickly and seems to run smoothly. I've only played 10-15 minutes of the tutorial before lunch, but I'm liking what I see so far.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/codO7FG.jpg)

Keep us posted with impressions. I am very interested with this one. I never got into any Age of Wonders games hence my hesitation.

Balthezor wrote:

Keep us posted with impressions. I am very interested with this one. I never got into any Age of Wonders games hence my hesitation.

I won't be able to play more until after work, unfortunately, but will try to post some impressions this evening. After 15 minutes, I'd say my general reaction is "highly polished 4x planet-based SF game". The attention to detail really jumps out at you. I get a sense that a lot of thought went into everything.

I am not sure when I will get around to picking this up, there are just too many good games right now, but I plan to play the Amazons with dinosaurs first. Dinos with lasers!

I just played this for three straight hours for a stream, and it was a BLAST.

I played through the tutorial mission then started my own campaign with The Assembly. As an Age of Wonders veteran combat felt familiar, but there are enough improvements to the systems to make it feel fresh.
I'm hoping there will eventually be enough graphics options to recreate this handsome fellow as my leader.
IMAGE(https://proxy.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm6.static.flickr.com%2F5306%2F5593448799_3c9f51c1d1.jpg&f=1)

Running Man wrote:

I played through the tutorial mission then started my own campaign with The Assembly. ...

I took a break from work and finished the tutorial as well, and then opted to continue the campaign. I needed to stop there, but am hoping to get back to things this evening. I may try a skirmish game on easy first. I feel like I want to experience the game without a story wrapper.

The tutorial scenario was easy and well done. I feel like it's been a gentle introduction to a lot of the core mechanics in the game. I'm looking forward to digging in to a more competitive game next.

Lots of depth here for sure!

Godzilla Blitz wrote:

Lots of depth here for sure!

Indeed! Did you check out the art book? Good info on the various factions, planet types, secret technologies, and NPC factions. I'm kind of glad I didn't read up on all this stuff ahead of time, because it's really been fun to check it out. This looks to be an interesting universe they've built, and I'd like to see it spread to other types of games.

I called it a work day a couple of hours early and fired up a skirmish game with an Amazon / Promethean faction. I'm playing on Very Easy difficulty with a total of 4 factions on a small world just to get a sense for how things work.

I'm taking it slow, and am only a dozen or so turns in, but general impressions in no particular order...

- Wow, there is a lot going on in the game. The map is alive with random enemies, sites of interest, NPC factions, main factions, quest goals, etc. Lots to explore and do.

- Combat is tactical, smooth, and engaging. I've pretty much been fighting on manual, and battles take maybe 10 minutes on average. A full battle with a lot of units would be crazy fun, but most of mine have been small so far.

- I feel like I have a lot to learn. There is city development, empire development, unit development, research, hero development, and (I think) weapon development. And it all weaves together nicely. I'm looking forward to digging in more.

Running Man wrote:
Godzilla Blitz wrote:

Lots of depth here for sure!

Indeed! Did you check out the art book? Good info on the various factions, planet types, secret technologies, and NPC factions. I'm kind of glad I didn't read up on all this stuff ahead of time, because it's really been fun to check it out. This looks to be an interesting universe they've built, and I'd like to see it spread to other types of games.

I haven't checked out the art book, but I'll do that tonight. That's probably my biggest takeaway so far--the depth and richness of what they've created. The attention to detail is remarkable, and it feels like a game where they've not only added detail, but taken great care to make sure that everything works well together. I'm very positive on the game so far.

To me, this feels more like Endless Legend than XCom or Civ. Not sure if that's just early impressions, but so far, that's where I am. I like it.

My "very easy" skirmish is turning into a pretty tight game.

4 factions and we all have three colonies now. I'm at war with the Dvar, who have been downright annoying the whole game. They sent a large army to try to take one of my colonies, but we fought them off with heavy casualties on both sides, and took down what I think must have been their best hero.

Now my second army just took one of their advance bases, and we might be poised to strike at their capital. Not sure if I have the power to capture it or not. Promethean has a doctrine that's much like a tactical nuclear strike, and I'm thinking I could drop that on their capital right before I attack. That might tip the odds in my favor.

Fun times. I'm realizing that there is a cavern between understanding how the systems work and what I'm supposed to be doing with them. And so much variety possible in how you play, build units, etc.

Speaking of caverns, is there an underground area for this game? All other AoW's have featured it.

My Assembly have befriended some Growth, who've asked us to take out some murderous, sap-thirsty Vegetarians on their behalf.

I really like the environments for Infested World, the colorful and freaky biomes remind me a lot of the tabletop game Gamma World, from the 80's. Throw in psionic powers via the Psynumbra secret tech and it bears an even stronger resemblance.

edit: A good way to learn about combat is to let the computer automate the battle, watch the replay, then reload and fight it manually. I've picked up a few tips on dealing with enemy tactics that way.

I stayed up way too late last night playing this, need to catch up on work today with the help of caffeine.

I stuck with my "very easy" game, but I'm struggling to have any sort of success. The strategic AI is noticeably and expectedly passive at this level, but I didn't expand fast enough and don't have a good sense yet of how to build a viable economy, so it's been a pretty equal performance.

The tactical AI seems pretty competent at this level. I've fought all but the most lopsided battles manually. I consistently beat it when I have a stronger force, am about 50-50 in equal battles, and have gotten beaten in most of the battles where the enemy is stronger.

Overall, I've kind of played myself into a corner. I'm energy-strapped and on equal footing with the other factions, and feel like I need to figure a way out via economic growth. But I'm in an eternal war with the Dvar, so most of my resources are getting chewed up in a defensive war of attrition with them, and I don't have enough energy production to produce my way out of the mess. I have almost no resources free anymore.

I might start over, but I feel learning how to deal with this situation will probably make me a better player and learn the game systems. When I get back to the game I want to try to expand more aggressively and figure out how to get energy production up (or costs down).

In retrospect, picking the "Kleptomaniac" negative trait was a really bad idea. You lose 10 energy per turn with it, and that consistent drag on your economy isn't worth the +1 positive trait.

Also, I chose the Promethean secret weapon line, but haven't done much with units or research with it. I'm only just now realizing that your secret weapon serves as sort of a sub-culture for your faction, with special units and research areas. The customization you can get by combining factions and secret weapons is pretty exciting for replayability.

Yeah, I also went with Klepto, but losing that 10 energy is a real drag so I don't think I'll go that route again. I don't mind losing battles as long as I learn something from them.

I'll probably play a few turns with each type of planet, then go back and do the official campaign before attempting a full length random game.

Running Man wrote:

I don't mind losing battles as long as I learn something from them.

The Tier I, Tier II, Tier III thing with weapons and units didn't register on my brain until recently in my current game, so I'm playing catch up there. Also, the whole unit customization mechanic with mods and whatnot is really cool, but also something I didn't explore early on. As a result, I've been using pretty vanilla Tier I and Tier II units against enemies who are now faster, tougher, and hit harder. A lot of battles now are repeatedly teaching me to pay attention to those systems in my next game.

I'm also trying to wrap my head around the idea of a rock-paper-scissors dynamic with units and damage types. I'm not even sure that's a thing and how much it plays out on a faction level. Are there certain factions that just don't match up well against other factions? I feel like my Amazons are struggling in even battles with the Kvar. They seem to be hitting me a lot harder than I'm hitting them, and for some of their more mechanized units I feel like I need to spend quite a bit of time wearing down their armor before I can do real damage. In the mean time, they are pounding me.

Having said that, I feel like I've got tools at my disposal for dealing with this problem, but I don't know what they are yet, or how to bring them into play. There are lots of weapons, mods, research areas, units, and I'm nowhere close to figuring out how to use these combinations well.

I managed to sort out things in my very easy skirmish game and ended up winning an Alliance Victory on Turn 73. Taking some time to sort out how the economy works made all the difference. Once I started producing enough energy, I could build stuff, and then it was just a matter of time before I turned the tide against the Dvar. The last battle, in their capital, was an epic showdown with lots of units involved:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/78dynOY.jpg)

Once they were wiped out, the other remaining faction proposed an alliance, and since I was so close to having enough sectors for a sector win, I figured I'd just accept the alliance then win via the sector route. But apparently the game can have multiple victors, as it ended immediately with our two remaining factions being winners.

I really enjoyed this game. I'm not sure what I'll play next, but I'm going to bump up the difficulty a notch for sure. "Very easy" was a great place for me to start to figure out systems and whatnot, but the enemy doesn't do much at that level.

Congrats GB!

Picked this up yesterday, started a game as the Dvar. This is a AoW game for sure, if I squint a little I can see the Space Dwarves, Space Humans, Space Undead, etc. The tactical battles seem more interesting than in AoW3 for some reason, maybe the setting makes them feel that way for me.

Liking it so far.

For me, it still feels like Endless Legend. The way the map is broken up, the npc factions, leaders and units, resources, all that stuff feels like it comes from EL. Which in turn takes from Civ and others, but I'm relating to it well in that regard. I don't get the XCom thing at all, I feel like that was just the easy turn-based combat description analog.

Good game, might be great.

Im finding the tactical AI to be fairly good (still very early days). But they definitely focus fire my weakened units, and when the smarter units have a defensible high ground, they arent rushing out of it to mindless attack. I had to move up and assault.

I see that too, Wayfarer, it's promising.

Robear, bringing up Endless Legends suddenly made me realize that EL took a lot of ideas from the AoW series which I had not realized before. Might have been the setting that threw me off since AoW has been until now pure fantasy in the Master of Magic vein.

AoW has generally had pretty good combat AI throughout the series. What I really like is how variable it is in the sense that "smart" enemies tend to act "smart" (take cover, don't rush in, concentrate on hurt units) but feral/less intelligent enemies will act less intelligently.

Last night I had a city attacked by marauders that included Amazonian bow-ladies along with some other units. This squad fought "smart" - creeping forward, using cover, focus firing on one of my entrenched units, flanking, appropriately using debuffs (blind shot and demoralize). It was pretty tense against my city milita, fortunately, they had to come to me and I could sit back in cover and trenches to take them out.

I had a different battle with some feral humans(?) that looked like something from Mad Max. These guys had no subtlety and rushed forward. This fight was a lot less tense.