Age of Wonders: Planetfall – Dev Diary #20: Marauders

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LennartGS

Managing / Game Director @ Triumph
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Marauders

After all the discussion concerning the intricacies of PvP and PvE diplomacy, it might be good to know there is a monster faction that is ALWAYS hostile which you can kill without any grievances or consequences.

These unaffiliated monsters and brigands are called “Marauders” and will put pressure on the player throughout the game. Their mechanics have evolved since AoW3 and of course Planetfall has a new set of monsters.

Marauder Behaviors
  • Marauder armies become active after 5-10 turns. It is very important to scout the surroundings and know if you need to prepare for attack. Of course, the new scan-range helps give an early warning of movement in unexplored or fogged terrain.
  • Marauders can be both opportunistic and suicidal, but there is some prioritization in their targets: First they prioritize Armies (Scouts), then Sector Bases and then Colonies
  • When they first enter an area, they’ll pause, given you one turn before they attack.
  • Marauders will park on resource nodes, denying income.
  • Marauders will raze sector bases. This takes 3 turns so there is a possibility to stop them.
  • Marauders taking over Colony Centers, plunge the settlement into anarchy. If the anarchy timer expires, the colony will be reduced to a camp.
  • Marauder strength scales as the game progresses.
    • Typical marauder units have two mutations, equipping them with mods of increasing power
    • Also, marauder army composition changes during game. More and higher tier units will spawn.
    • The overall threat level the timing these mutation event can be changed with the World Threat Level difficulty setting.

War.jpg

Yep, its war.
Marauder Spawners

Marauder spawners are sector dominant structures. This means you need to clear these sites before you can exploit a sector. The planet surface is populated with spawners at the start of the map but new spawners to appear, through NPC quests and player operations. Spawner Combat maps vary per creature type and may include environmental hazards.

HopperNest.jpg

Looks like these creatures feasted on humans in their den.
Screenshot_Quartzite_04.jpg

Quartzite spawner. Spot a monster not mentioned in this journal.

Marauder Units

Here are some of the units that have been specifically designed to be marauder units and as guardians of landmarks or as Quest Targets. Note that as in you might see brigands from other faction s appear as marauders too; often in mixed stacks.

Hopperhounds

These enormous alien grasshoppers are a common plague on many Star Union planets. They are the scourge of fledging colonies.

Hopperhound.jpg


Hopperhound_e.jpg

Mega Beetles

These insects are known for their corrosive acid attacks and their death rattles, which cover everyone adjacent to these in a thick corrosive substance.
MegaBeetle.jpg


Quartzites

Silicon based wildlife, the Quartzite are born of volcanoes and deep caves. Their physiology allows them spew flaming lava or electrocute all those who approach them. They are a match for any armored divion. Some say they are created by terraforming activities.

Quartzite_Basher.jpg

Quartzite_Flame.jpg


Chelus and Octowhales

The Octowhales are scourge of the oceans. Their songs guide not only themselves but other creatures as well. The Chelus follow them into combat, knowing that the boats that threaten their waters can be used as food for their young.

Chelus.jpg


E:bots

These Androids used to be employed in the darker crevasses of the entertainment industry. After being set free, unspeakable memories haunted their synthetic minds. Many slipped into a life of violent crime.

EBotMale.jpg

Triumph objectifies male and female androids in equal measure
EBotFemale.jpg


There's many more. Marauders, NPCs Factions, Hazard locationsl - you’ll be surprised how dangerous the worlds are in Planetfall.
 
Very nice - looks like the planets are really alive

"The overall threat level the timing these mutation event can be changed with the World Threat Level difficulty setting."
Does the World Threat Level diffculty setting also influence other things? Anyway, I hope there are a lot of Gamesettings that can be finetuned ...
 
Marauders can be both opportunistic and suicidal

I hope they can exploit weak points in your colony defense. Suicidal marauders are not very good solution, because they become easy XP farm source. In AoW3 aggressive neutrals inflicted okish annoyance and weren't completely dumb.

When they first enter an area, they’ll pause, given you one turn before they attack.

Why do you implement this feature into marauder behavior? Seems very exploitable and easy to deal.


Well, that's really interesting unit with good background and visual design. I'd wish there will be more such marauders than boring generic insects...
 
Octowhales, at least they'er not Decawhales.

Really want a Mega Beetle in my army. Maybe have giant dung beetles that can throw their "balls" at you (only once per battle)? There could be bits of machinery and skeletons sticking out of the dung ball.
 
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It's good to know that there even more threats in the grim darkness of the fall of the Star Union.

Triumph objectifies male and female androids in equal measure
I for one Applaud that, humanity needs to be more open minded with his incubots and succubots. Robots are people too, if we program them for be people at least.
 
I hope they can exploit weak points in your colony defense. Suicidal marauders are not very good solution, because they become easy XP farm source. In AoW3 aggressive neutrals inflicted okish annoyance and weren't completely dumb.



Why do you implement this feature into marauder behavior? Seems very exploitable and easy to deal.

Seems very early to jump to these conclusions based on a Dev Diary. Let’s first see things in action before we talk about exploits.
 
Should be a game option: 'marauder behavior': easy, normal, aggressive :D


Probably already is.

Excellent diary, makes me happy.

I take it there is no way for the player to control any of these...if so may I suggest a secret tech themed around this...Alternatively (or additionally) maybe Amazons should get some stuff geared around controlling these?

Also, the Succbot has a pistol while the Incubot does not....this is not equal opportunity objectionism!
 
Interesting to not that the female E:bots punch harder. Another thing to not is that the male one has a pipe-looking thing instead of a fist, but the female one has the pistol that I do not quite spot in the model.
 
I take it there is no way for the player to control any of these...if so may I suggest a secret tech themed around this...Alternatively (or additionally) maybe Amazons should get some stuff geared around controlling these?

I would have hoped that some of them could be acquired through the "Mystical City Upgrades" system like AoW3.
Claim one of those Vegas-like resorts and you could unlock both E-bots for example, like the Siren and Mermaid from the Sunken City.

Looks like a lizard in the middle. Are there Dino monsters? If so, are there trikes?
Edit: spelling

The Amazons have been shown to ride a recolored version of them in a previous journal. They're called Arrowtails if I recall correctly.
 
Glad to finally get a good look at some of the new Sea Monsters.

I love the unit lore descriptions :)

I would have hoped that some of them could be acquired through the "Mystical City Upgrades" system like AoW3.
Claim one of those Vegas-like resorts and you could unlock both E-bots for example, like the Siren and Mermaid from the Sunken City.

I am hoping this is the case.
 
By following the screenshot the integrated pistol would be with the incubot (like samus from metroid) and the punching effect go to the succubot due to having 2 hands with those models without seeing the gun.
 
Seems very early to jump to these conclusions based on a Dev Diary. Let’s first see things in action before we talk about exploits.

Do you think so? I know how it made in AoW3 and can compare. In AoW3 aggressive neutrals attack when see your single unit on first sight without any delay. And it's good. I think Planetfall provides too much effective tools to deal with surprise enemy attacks already.

Interesting to not that the female E:bots punch harder.

This is T2 vs. T1 difference anyway.