Hi there, welcome to this week’s Planetfall Journal where we’ll be taking a look at Commander Creation. The Commander is your in-game avatar, the embodiment of your empire in the making. Commanders come from variety of backgrounds, but all are sent out to claim a former Star Union world for their respective faction. The type of Commander you are has a great impact on how you achieve victory.
In this journal we’ll be taking a look at the game mechanic part of the customization process. As we go through the Customization Process, you’ll get a good idea of how gameplay mechanics and content is distributed in Planetfall. You can start a game either by choosing a pre-made commander or creating your own.
Race
There are 6 Races in the Planetfall. Based on the feedback from Age of Wonders 3, we have greatly expanded the unique content, flavor and mechanics for the races, meaning that each race has a unique technology tree and unit lineup. Currently each race has on average:
Weapon Groups
Next to unique units and mods, races are also associated with weapons technologies which contain additional Weapon Mods (average 7) and a couple of operations. Weapon Groups determine the primary damage channels factions will be using. They are divided as follows:
Secret Technology
At the start of the Game the player selects one of the Secret Technologies of the Star Union. These are fields of experimental or forbidden research that were hidden from the general population. By mastering these technologies, the Commanders hope to achieve victory and / or transcend their people to a new era. Secret Techs contain additional Units, Mods and especially Operations.
Each Secret Technology has its own doomsday weapon, which reflects the ultimate goal of that technology. Doomsday Weapons are powerful, planetary scale weapons which the player can use to gain a huge advantage and eventually win outright. Secret techs therefore make up the Tech Victory of the Game.
Perks:
These personal perks allow you to further tailor your leader, telling his or her background story along with bonusses or penalties that affect your style of play. You get three points you can spend in these categories:
· Background: Describes your Commander’s former profession. For example, you could be a Star Union Scholar, who researches Secrets Technologies faster, and get a bonus on rewards from pickups and treasure sites.
· Colony Supplement: You can allocate room in your Voidship to kickstart your colony in a particular area. For example, Extra Cryopods start off your colonies with extra population.
· Personal Loadout: The starting gear and combat skills for your commander. You can choose to be a sniper, who provides ranged support from afar, an assault specialist who gets in close, or a pilot who rides a vehicle into battle.
· Vice: Are 3 Points not enough? You can always choose a vice of varying intensity to get more points, but you’ll have to live with the consequences during the game. For example, the Kleptomaniac steals your empires energy for themselves, damaging your economy (though as a minor consolation he also starts off with a free piece of randomly chosen equipment that he stole from his home planet before departing).
Composited Tech Tree
Most games have a tech tree or multiple tech tree that are shared between all factions. Planetfall however has a ton of unique content that comes from different sources, such as the player’s race, secret tech and weapon types. We call these Tech Paths and here is a preview cut-out of how these Tech Paths are organized in the game.
In a future diaries we'll be looking closer at both the research tree as well as visual commander customization.
In this journal we’ll be taking a look at the game mechanic part of the customization process. As we go through the Customization Process, you’ll get a good idea of how gameplay mechanics and content is distributed in Planetfall. You can start a game either by choosing a pre-made commander or creating your own.
Select a pre-made Commander or create your own
Race
There are 6 Races in the Planetfall. Based on the feedback from Age of Wonders 3, we have greatly expanded the unique content, flavor and mechanics for the races, meaning that each race has a unique technology tree and unit lineup. Currently each race has on average:
- 8 Units per race + 2 Racial ships and a Colonizer
- 8 Racial Unit Mods
- Operations, Buildings and Society Doctrines.
Weapon Groups
Next to unique units and mods, races are also associated with weapons technologies which contain additional Weapon Mods (average 7) and a couple of operations. Weapon Groups determine the primary damage channels factions will be using. They are divided as follows:
- Vanguard – Laser and Kinetic
- Kirko - Biochemical and Psionic
- Assemly – Arc and Kinetic
- Dvar – Explosive and Kinetic
- Amazon – Biochemical and Laser
- Syndicate – Arc and Psionic
Secret Technology
At the start of the Game the player selects one of the Secret Technologies of the Star Union. These are fields of experimental or forbidden research that were hidden from the general population. By mastering these technologies, the Commanders hope to achieve victory and / or transcend their people to a new era. Secret Techs contain additional Units, Mods and especially Operations.
Each Secret Technology has its own doomsday weapon, which reflects the ultimate goal of that technology. Doomsday Weapons are powerful, planetary scale weapons which the player can use to gain a huge advantage and eventually win outright. Secret techs therefore make up the Tech Victory of the Game.
The first screen of the customization process
Perks:
These personal perks allow you to further tailor your leader, telling his or her background story along with bonusses or penalties that affect your style of play. You get three points you can spend in these categories:
· Background: Describes your Commander’s former profession. For example, you could be a Star Union Scholar, who researches Secrets Technologies faster, and get a bonus on rewards from pickups and treasure sites.
· Colony Supplement: You can allocate room in your Voidship to kickstart your colony in a particular area. For example, Extra Cryopods start off your colonies with extra population.
· Personal Loadout: The starting gear and combat skills for your commander. You can choose to be a sniper, who provides ranged support from afar, an assault specialist who gets in close, or a pilot who rides a vehicle into battle.
· Vice: Are 3 Points not enough? You can always choose a vice of varying intensity to get more points, but you’ll have to live with the consequences during the game. For example, the Kleptomaniac steals your empires energy for themselves, damaging your economy (though as a minor consolation he also starts off with a free piece of randomly chosen equipment that he stole from his home planet before departing).
A cut out section of the WIP tech tree interface showing a number of tech paths for a Vanguard Promethean player.
Composited Tech Tree
Most games have a tech tree or multiple tech tree that are shared between all factions. Planetfall however has a ton of unique content that comes from different sources, such as the player’s race, secret tech and weapon types. We call these Tech Paths and here is a preview cut-out of how these Tech Paths are organized in the game.
In a future diaries we'll be looking closer at both the research tree as well as visual commander customization.
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