Age of Wonders: Planetfall Gameplay Reveal - Q&A Thread

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Right, since quite a bit is already known, I will try to answer or comment on a few of the questions here to the best of my recollection (from reading the Dev Diaries).
emmasterakia has also kindly stated that there will be an attempt at a public FAQ after the stream.

Can you guys please explain the game in a way that someone who knows nothing about how Age of Wonders works, can get somewhat of an idea? The dev diaries are all written in a way that the devs expect you to know what is being talked about rather than explaining in more depth. I don't mean entire paragraphs, but explaining how the gampelay is structured (do you travel to different planets over the course of the game, conquer them and add them to your empire, travel from planet to planet like a quest with the goal to complete all objectives before moving to the next leve planet etc). Stuff like that.

I suspect the gameplay reveal will answer most questions like these, but some backstory and going into more depth about the way mechanics work than expecting you to know the basics already, would be helpful.
Actually, the Dev Diaries appear to be written in a way that would spoil as little as possible at this stage of development. The fans know the experience of playing AoW3, but that is about it. Often even we read too much into how a particular sentence is structured, and only realize our error when the devs respond to our avalanche of silly questions.

will there be fractions or something similiar?
and Will there Be Undead

There will be whole numbers, rounded in the normal way. At least we have not seen any fractions.
Undead faction has not been mentioned I believe. But there are several playable factions and unplayable parties (roaming monsters and dwellings that spread their influence over the planet).

I have 4 main questions about the game, otherwise i'd have to make an entire powerpoint presentation to ask everything.

1. Heroes and units, how will they work and will the heroes just become murder hobos to rival the gods, or are they capable of more, for example espionage and statecraft maybe?

2. In terms of setting can the game be considered a future universe of the Age of Wonders games before it?

3. In continuation of the last one - what nations and races will there be, if you could show off the different civs and minor civs possibly during the stream?

4. priority over the others ----> What is the level of DESTRUCTION you can wreak upon the world? <---- priority over the others
What are the races in the game?
1. Murder hobos.
2. The lore was stated to be disconnected from previous AoW titles, but with some "nods" to the original lore. What this means, I guess the stream might tell?
3. Dvar (Space Dwarves), Amazon (Very buff and muscular warrior women). Syndicate (Cloaky-cloaky-stabby-stabby looking dudes), Assembly, Kir'Ko (Cute squashy bugs) and Vanguard have been stated as playable races. There are also non-playable races such as Psynumbra (Demonesque creatures from the Void, which is also the source for Cosmite, the Planetfall special resource).
4. Let's just say one of the victory conditions is literally called Doomsday.

If it's a thing, can we get some detail on how diplomacy will be made interesting?

I know a lot of games like this have a diplomacy that barely matters outside to exploit it (civ for example). Endless space/legend did a decent job of making it matter by requiring a resource to use it and having races focus on it (although it's still lacking in depth).

What kind of approach are you taking with pvp diplomacy, or will it not really be a factor?

It is apparently more in-depth than AoW3, I'd guess to the level of MoO2. Essentially you do get more options that even the AI can understand, but it is no diplomacy simulator.

What is the setup for the campaign? Custom Leaders vs Preset characters? One single campaign track or multiple tracks by faction? Branching within a track?

They did mention something about campaign decisions (which race you want to play) possibly changing the RMG settings for the Campaign maps. Think of that what you will. It does not answer the question, but it is something...

I was wondering about the empire growth mechanics in this game:

1. Is there city spam?
2. What prevents city spam?

There are sectors, each sector taking up a portion of the map. Any sector can have at most one city, not all sectors are settleable and no two side-by-side sectors can have cities. Sectors without cities can be taken under your control by connecting it to a city in a neighbouring sector using resources (which or how much has not been stated - might only be time).
 
It is apparently more in-depth than AoW3, I'd guess to the level of MoO2. Essentially you do get more options that even the AI can understand, but it is no diplomacy simulator.
I have to clarify, since MOO2 is exactly what I was thinking of with "bad diplomacy". The options in moo2 are basically for show when dealing with the AI, and when playing pvp their either useless (basically every option but tech trade) or break the game (trade tech to an ally who goes to war for you). There's literally 0 depth to it in practice.

AoW3 seemed pretty decent in that it didn't pretend to be more than it was, so i'm curious how they're going to expand that and keep the options meaningful.
 
I have to clarify, since MOO2 is exactly what I was thinking of with "bad diplomacy". The options in moo2 are basically for show when dealing with the AI, and when playing pvp their either useless (basically every option but tech trade) or break the game (trade tech to an ally who goes to war for you). There's literally 0 depth to it in practice.

AoW3 seemed pretty decent in that it didn't pretend to be more than it was, so i'm curious how they're going to expand that and keep the options meaningful.
I'd respectfully disagree about MoO2 diplomacy being worse. I mean, it did have the functional demands, different treaties (trade, research, not just peace and alliance) and espionage/sabotage/assassinations that really did not exist or work in AoW3. The AI did not always act logically (well, at least they did not give away the homeworld....), that is true. What I meant about PF is that they are adding things (proper demands, vassalage... there is also the topic of "claiming" sectors before taking control of them, which may have some effects on the diplomacy. Not to mention Casus Belli is apparently now a thing (when declaring war, having a reason has some consequences. What precisely those are, TBD). But I believe it won't go much deeper than that.
 
My request would be for them to:

  • roll a map randomly
  • just play and chat and have fun
  • don't try and tailor it to the audience just yet
Basically, let's see a warts and all gameplay stream, as opposed to a live, planned let's play.
 
What, if any, changes are being made to the multiplayer, and what modes of multiplayer will there be? Will the issue of not real simultaneous from AoW3 be addressed in any way and if so, how?

Will you be making story oriented specific scenarios (similar to scenarios in AoW3)?

Can you pretty please show an Assembly and a Syndicate unit for us during the stream? =D

Super excited for the stream.
 
- Is the game going to be released on GOG.com as well?
Saw others asking this question previously and even I asked this before but as far as I can tell this never been answered before. All previous AoW titles is on GOG, would be really nice to see the game there.

- Are there any plans for multiplayer to let people continue their turn while somebody else is in combat?

Sometimes you don't really want to see your friend fighting against low level monsters, you'd rather just continue your turn.

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My AoW collection on GOG:
2018-09-06_08-50-20_GalaxyClient.jpg
 
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- Is the game going to be released on GOG.com as well?
Saw others asking this question previously and even I asked this before but as far as I can tell this never been answered before. All previous AoW titles is on GOG, would be really nice to see the game there.

- Are there any plans for multiplayer to let people continue their turn while somebody else is in combat?

Sometimes you don't really want to see your friend fighting against low level monsters, you'd rather just continue your turn.

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My AoW collection on GOG:
View attachment 401861
That's a mighty fine collection you've got there.

On a directed note, for your first question, while I would like to say that it's very possible for the game to be on GOG at some point, Triumph's new relationship with Paradox may have an effect on that, as I know that only the older Paradox games are available on GOG. Then again, perhaps not, as Triumph is their own development studio, and thus may have more leeway in their marketing model, as long as Triumph are the ones willing to maintain the multiple versions and updates necessary for multiple release platforms.


On the second point, that is going to be a hard "No," for better or for worse, due to a multitude of programming issues involved in allowing other players to continue their turns while one or more players are otherwise locked in combat. At best, and the Devs have considered some of these as possibilities, we may get the ability to:
- view the map, as in AoW3's current vision of the game setup option to not view combat if a player not involved
- as a corollary to the above, examine units, cities and heroes, that are visible, and other information panels
- adjust our research
- design units(depending on how the system works out in regards to preset designs, that is)
- send diplomatic offers(but likely not have them be received until the combat is finished, regardless of recipient)
- manipulate production queues, although possibly not the item currently in production, if it already has investment

As you can see, none of the above, at the point of input, actually modify the current game state, and that's the most we can really expect, due to the aforementioned coding issues involved. I know a dev like @sikbok (sorry!) could explain better, if he were feeling up to it. Otherwise, perhaps it really would be a good idea for Lennart to spend a moment during the Stream explaining why that is that case, even if it's irrelevant to the Classic Turns setting the Stream will probably use. I think it's a minor concern, personally, but I can acknowledge that a surprising amount of people were caught off guard by it, and some even quite bothered, if the comments are to be believed, after purchasing AoW3.


For the first point, I used a bit of research and educated guesses.
For the second point, I have witnessed the devs discussing that very matter with people on numerous occasions, BUT, this is certainly subject to change, as it has been one of the games most disparaged points. It does have a lot of issues with attempting to overcome it, though, so I don't personally expect anything more than possibly my examples above.
 
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For an actual question I remembered I had, though, Research. It's multiple related questions, tied to a single point: (All of them could likely be answered by a single answer, depending)
1. Now that we have split research, does that also mean our Knowledge income is split, or does it go to both at the shown rate?
1a. Can that split, if it exists be adjusted(likely in 10% increments) to divert more Knowledge to Military or Economic research?
1b. Alternately, and I personally doubt this, are we to expect effects which increase the rate of either Military or Economic research, specifically, regardless of the Knowledge being split? Aside from likely a Background or Vice, I suppose. We already have a Background that increases rate of research just for Secret Techs, after all.

2. Is it possible to spend Knowledge output entirely on only one of either Military or Economic research?
(this question stems from a post by Lennart talking about the possibility of a player bee-lining for T4 unit research, but leaving their economy in the stone-age then not really clarifying if it was in the stone-age because it couldn't reasonably support production of T4s if one did that, or because of being able to direct all research to Military, and actually not having done any Economic research)
2a/1c. If a player ends their turn without selecting research in one of the categories, and if Knowledge is split, does the unspent Knowledge go to waste, or does it result in Question 2?
 
So my questions are these:

1) Will there be any kind of super units? For example in age of wonders 3 dragons were big tough and expensive units that could easily demolish the unprepared but could still be brought down through focus fire.
2) Will they be customizable.
3) As the human faction will it be possible to make use of "bio weaponry", essentially living weapons or creatures genetically modified specifically for combat purposes?
 
plz! reveal PBeM and hotseat possibilities :)
hope there will be someting to say =)
at least say "yes" or "not" to this features when 1.0 ver come to us

bless you ;)
 
I guess I'll start with the dealbreaker: Hotseat? Yes/No?

Furthermore, I have questions regarding map layers and.. logistics..

-Are there alternate map 'layers' - such as underground, shadowlands, orbital/floating islands? This has always been one of the defining features of the franchise.

-How does the.. 'travel infrastructure'.. work? Roads/Turbo-Tubes? City Relays? Air/Naval/Land Transports?
-(related) How flexible/existant is the teraforming system? Are you able to sculpt the terrain to form chokepoints/barriers/breaches?
-(related) How much/is there depth in the creation/destruction of non-city structures? Watchtowers, forts, shipyards, inhibitors, shields, etc.

-Lastly, is there some kind of analogy to the traditional Magic Sphere system in this game?

Thank you for your time.
 
1) Will there be any kind of super units? For example in age of wonders 3 dragons were big tough and expensive units that could easily demolish the unprepared but could still be brought down through focus fire.

You mean T4 units? Yes those are in.

Also:

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...0-the-npc-factions-and-pve-diplomacy.1115047/

scroll to the bottom. NPC factions will have:

Boss events, extra strong armies that have named Boss characters with high level unit mods and henchmen.
 
Cool to see some gameplay already, hadn't expected that!

Some story/setting related questions:

1) What role will space play in the game and setting? I know we will play exclusively planetside, but will we get to see spaceships in cutscenes? Are all major factions supposed to have large space navies? Is there a story reason why factions cannot just bomb each other's ground forces to pieces from orbit?

2) At the start of the campaign story, do the major factions know of each other's existence? Do factions have long histories with each other and will that translate to diplomatic penalties/bonuses between factions of different races?

Hope you will let us hear some sounds from the game too, not just devs talking (as much as I'm interested in what you have to say ;) ).
 
are you making any adjustments to the adjacent hex rule/making any considerations for issues like split-stacking?

personally, i'm most interested in seeing how tactical battles play out now. i hope you guys show that off extensively, my decision to buy AoW3 was made after watching the dreadnought gameplay video
 
What is it like planning this gameplay reveal? What are your greatest fears of what will happen? What are you the most excited about showing? What do you think is the current biggest misconception of your game amongst your fans?
 
Im not sure if that was already mentioned but are Unit Mods visible on the model?

EDIT: And another really small thing. In AoW 3 my beloved Goblin Crusaders always had a yellow Sun on their shield, as i play a white/red colored Faction normally this always bothered me a wee bit.

Are Player colors now applied a bit more consistently? Can the chosen player emblem be shown on the models?

This isn't anything major naturally but that's a good thing, I did not see anything major to complain thus far :p