Age of Wonders: Planetfall - Dev Diary #46: The Launch and the upcoming VELOCIRAPTOR update

[LennartGS]

Hi there, and welcome to the first Planetfall development diary after release! With these journals we plan on keeping you informed on the things we are working on as we continue to improve the game. First, we must say that we are very thankful for the great reception the game has gotten on release. Working for four years on a project means there is a lot at stake. It’s been a herculean effort both for Triumph and the team at Paradox Stockholm. Kudos for all the fantastic work.

This launch is just the beginning and we aim to support the game for a long time both with free updates and premium expansions. This dev diary is all about looking toward the time directly following launch.

Launch Day PC Patch

We have decided to name our substantial updates after dinosaurs in honor of the Amazon beasts. We’ll try to reflect the updates’ focus in the choice of dino.

We’ve already dropped a nameless PC launch day patch addressing critical issues which kept some people from launching the game on certain PC configurations and in certain countries, in addition to a couple of other small fixes. Apologies for any inconvenience these launch day issues might have caused.

The only bugs we want in this game are of the cool Kir'ko kind ​

COMING SOON: OUT NOW The Velociraptor Update

The first proper update is therefore called the Velociraptor Update, as it comes quick after release and one of the major things it contains is AI speed optimizations.

• This update will significantly reduce the amount of time it takes to finish its world map turns. It can be 2 to 3 times as fast pending situation without affecting decisions.
• Edge Scrolling Option for PC
• Safe Zone UI controls for Xbox One
• Production Overflow Fix
• And more!

See the Full VELOCIRAPTOR PATCH Notes:

Of course, the Velociraptor patch will also include the launch day patch fixes for Console and a bunch of other fixes including Gameplay balance.

Patch Roll-out Procedure
We roll out our patches as follows:

• Step 1: Open Beta on Steam PC: If you have a Steam copy of the game, you may opt to switch to the latest beta version of the game. Note that this version is in the process of being tested and it is not recommended to play multiplayer games with it. See here how you can do this.
• Step 2: Live PC: Once it has enough time in Open Beta, we put it live on all platforms. The time between open beta and PC depends on the size of the patch and feedback.
• Step 3: Console Roll Out: Console Updates benefit from the PC open beta, but have to go through a separate QA phase and need to be certified by the platform holders. This means the console patches will be a bit behind on those on PC. This delay should be a matter of days rather than weeks though.

Have fun playing and please share your feedback with us in the forums!

 

[Ferrin33]

Loving the themed update idea! But it does make me want velociraptors with jetpacks for amazons.

Very nice to see you all fixing things so fast.

 

[IshanShadeslayer]

What was the issue with production overflow?

 

[Jean-Luc]

We’ll try to reflect the updates’ focus in the choice of dino.

Oh man, that sounds tricky. Looking forward to it.

Happy launch day.

 

[Tombles]

What was the issue with production overflow?

Imagine a city gets 80p a turn, and you only have one thing in the queue, which needs 50p to finish. So, you hit end turn and the system spends 50p on the item, finishing it, leaving 30 over for the next thing. What should happen is that 30p overflow is available for the thing you queue in the next turn, however a bug meant it was lost. That should be fixed now.

 

[prof_doom]

Hmm... Is this some sort of hint? Is this a clue that some future expansion is going to feature a saurian race?

 

[TheDeadlyShoe]

Imagine a city gets 80p a turn, and you only have one thing in the queue, which needs 50p to finish. So, you hit end turn and the system spends 50p on the item, finishing it, leaving 30 over for the next thing. What should happen is that 30p overflow is available for the thing you queue in the next turn, however a bug meant it was lost. That should be fixed now.

sounds like

bug fix: left too much AOW3 in the game

 

[micdy]

I was hoping for Edge Scrolling Option

 

[ashbery76]

Great game guys.Already played 22 hours in a few days.

 

[RNGesus322]

Imagine a city gets 80p a turn, and you only have one thing in the queue, which needs 50p to finish. So, you hit end turn and the system spends 50p on the item, finishing it, leaving 30 over for the next thing. What should happen is that 30p overflow is available for the thing you queue in the next turn, however a bug meant it was lost. That should be fixed now.

If this (or the next) patch is for QoL features, then I may as well add a few more I've noticed:

1) Add an option to restrict city population growth. With the pop/happiness mechanic similar to Civ, one feature Civ had was you could check a box in the city interface to stop a city from growing. This would be useful if a city is "capped" on population by its happiness.

2) Add an option to switch between heroes the same way you can switch between armies using the arrows on the UI. AoW3 had this and it was super convenient when trying to find where your hero stacks were.

3) Make it so you can adjust tactical combat speed mid-fight instead of just at the beginning. The arrows that adjust combat animation speed only appear when the fight starts, can't seem to bring them up mid-fight. Also, a "force high speed tactical combat" rule in the game settings would be nice, like in AoW3.

4) Healing abilities (like Dvar Foreman's heal) don't seem to heal outside combat, unlike in AoW3. Is this intended or just a bug? Making them do so would also make support units a bit better (currently they seem a bit underpowered to me, compared to one extra infantry unit instead).

 

[Kelben]

I was hoping for Edge Scrolling Option

Good thing it's in there.

 

[Ridixo]

The only bugs we want in this game are of the cool Kir'ko kind

Death to the un-cool Kir'ko!!!

Best patch announcement i have seen in my life

Glad you have such a good release and success, my best wishes to you and the game. I really look forward to play this new masterpiece

 

[Jean-Luc]

4) Healing abilities (like Dvar Foreman's heal) don't seem to heal outside combat, unlike in AoW3. Is this intended or just a bug? Making them do so would also make support units a bit better (currently they seem a bit underpowered to me, compared to one extra infantry unit instead).

None of the combat heals work on the strat map in PF. There's a lot more healing in the game overall, it's not restricted to a specific race or "class" though some are certainly better at it than others and there's a lot more strategic healing too.

In aow 3 each unit healed by 6 every turn by default, In Planetfall it's the same but there's an additional 6 hp of healing if you're in friendly territory, there's operations that provide full or partial healing, regen mods that provide full healing, support units and hero abilities that provide additional passive healing (first aid type of skill), repair drones, life drain, there's healing up the wazoo all over.

 

[TheDeadlyShoe]

I can't think of any healers that are just healers either. Foremen provide a lot of crowd control, Pugs have an obscene amount of utility, and Biomancers are just OP bullshit

 

[Mauer]

So there's no production overflow atm? I was sure there was, based on how fast everything gets built. Related to this, selecting 'Slow' in Game Speed I think only slows research and pop growth, shouldn't production be slowed as well? And Normal and Fast seem to be the same, at least based on the description (0% increased research and food costs / Normal research and colonist food costs).

And could you add more turn limit options? just 100, 150, and 200 is too little variation IMO.

 

[Icezera]

If this (or the next) patch is for QoL features, then I may as well add a few more I've noticed:

1) Add an option to restrict city population growth. With the pop/happiness mechanic similar to Civ, one feature Civ had was you could check a box in the city interface to stop a city from growing. This would be useful if a city is "capped" on population by its happiness.

2) Add an option to switch between heroes the same way you can switch between armies using the arrows on the UI. AoW3 had this and it was super convenient when trying to find where your hero stacks were.

3) Make it so you can adjust tactical combat speed mid-fight instead of just at the beginning. The arrows that adjust combat animation speed only appear when the fight starts, can't seem to bring them up mid-fight. Also, a "force high speed tactical combat" rule in the game settings would be nice, like in AoW3.

4) Healing abilities (like Dvar Foreman's heal) don't seem to heal outside combat, unlike in AoW3. Is this intended or just a bug? Making them do so would also make support units a bit better (currently they seem a bit underpowered to me, compared to one extra infantry unit instead).

You can restrict population growth by just forcing the city to share all its food. That option already exists.

And I'm pretty sure you can always adjust tactical combat speed during AI turns.

 

[Booo]

So there's no production overflow atm? I was sure there was, based on how fast everything gets built. Related to this, selecting 'Slow' in Game Speed I think only slows research and pop growth, shouldn't production be slowed as well? And Normal and Fast seem to be the same, at least based on the description (0% increased research and food costs / Normal research and colonist food costs).

And could you add more turn limit options? just 100, 150, and 200 is too little variation IMO.

There seems to be overflow if you have multiple items queued up, but that the production disappears if you have nothing left in the queue.

 

[Sifer2]

Sounds good glad were getting such quick updates especially on the turn timer thing as that's one of the big two things complained about in reviews. Another thing you might want to take a look at I saw some complaining about on forums was the morale penalties you get for fighting others of your own race. And how that can be really weird in team games.

Also I was wondering what happened to the dark sunglass's, and cigar cosmetics for the Vanguard? Did not see it when I went to customize my guy. Is it an unlockable or did they remove it for some reason?

 

[Zebedee]

Also I was wondering what happened to the dark sunglass's, and cigar cosmetics for the Vanguard? Did not see it when I went to customize my guy. Is it an unlockable or did they remove it for some reason?

I have aviators for Vanguard. Have the version which includes the season pass - is it linked to the season pass, sure MS store listed that cosmetic for that? Not seen a cigar.

Have noticed that I now have the sign-up icon and ingame items for that - thanks Triumph.

 

[Fayt Ombre]

Is there an issue with controller input on computer?
I’m using a PS4 controller and it works but it’s giving me the Xbox layout meaning I can’t pull up info using the touch pad and all the tips are for an Xbox controller. Steam recognises it as a PS4 controller and it works fine in other games.