Age of Wonders: Planetfall - Dev Diary #58: The Shakarn Faction

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So uh. The tier 4's super cannon is cool but 10 damage standard attack? Uh, thats weaker than their tier 1. This one doesn't even have a global effect like most other tier 4s. In the state I am seeing it is very weak for a t4.

Their T1 is rather short ranged and only does its full damage at point blank/melee distance.

We can't see its range, aoeness or if it has any other modifiers though. It might just be a backup for when you can't use the Omni-Beam.

Also don't forget multiple damage channels benefit from flanking far better than single damage channels because each damage channel is boosted separately. This was the case back in AoW3 and from what I've tested with Syndicate Psynumbra units (w/ damage conversion) and units buffed by the Heritor Ark's damage boost, it still seems to be the case in Planetfall.

I'll have to double test though, maybe the devs have changed how flanking damage works.
 
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I has been changed to a +20%, so it doesn't benefit anymore to a first approximation.
However, since damage bonuses round up, you might sometimes get 1 more damage than you would with a single channel attack.
So its basically not a thing anymore.
 
Nice, I love the "epigenetic" selection that determines the caste of the egg hatched. Real reptiles and birds have such post-natal selection too too.
Btw the Refractor really reminds me of the War of the World movie's tanks - that is, the very first movie made of the book, where the aliens had floating tanks, not tripods.
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By playing a Shakarn Synthesis leader you can first replace the populace with reptilians and then plug them into the Matrix. No need to settle for just one conspiracy theory.
 
Btw, one of the things I'm wondering about is who pilots Shakarn machines. Are they piloted (supposedly) by the more calculating Zardas, or are they AI drones (stolen Vanguard technology perhaps)? I assume Shakarn are intelligent folk if they're able to steal technologies and manipulate others with propaganda so piloting shouldn't be an issue...
 
Btw, one of the things I'm wondering about is who pilots Shakarn machines. Are they piloted (supposedly) by the more calculating Zardas, or are they AI drones (stolen Vanguard technology perhaps)? I assume Shakarn are intelligent folk if they're able to steal technologies and manipulate others with propaganda so piloting shouldn't be an issue...
Propagators and presumably Refractors can be piloted by Heroes. The Refractor and Sonokarn are explicitly described in this diary thread's OP as Gama caste vehicles, while the concept art says the Airship (likely the Propagator before being finalised) is associated with the Zardas. So I guess it's safe to assume they are all piloted by Gama caste, with the exception of non-Hero Propagators, which are piloted by Zardas.

The Recon is probably a Zardas-built AI Drone though, I'm not sure, I don't remember if Tom scrolled down its unit card to reveal if it was Mindless or not.
 
Well, we don't actually know how the lore goes. Maybe SU thought they wiped them out, but they hid and patiently waited unseen :) Or they went into one of those wormholes...

For what this DD says:
The Shakarn have waited at the edges of the Star Union for the perfect moment to strike. They prepared, researched and stole the Secret Techs the Star Union had produced and made them their own. They infiltrated their societies and researched the tactics and cultures of the human and insectoid races.

I looks like the Star-Union never know they even existed. The Sharkarn waited and took their time hiding, they infiltrate the Star-Union and stole tech from them, and now they are attacking. Also the newt in the thriller, says: "After centuries of enforce isolation" that sound more like something self imposed. Have the Union found them they would have used them in some way, not put them in isolation. Think the Kir´ko history, after that any alien race would have hide of the Union rater than face their proyects. He also says: "We expand once more", which could indicate that maybe they did go in conflict with the Union. There is a reason they stop expanding and go into isolation. But the next sentence: "Not even the Voidbringers can limit our potential" makes me think that they stop expanding and go into hiding not for fear of the Star-Union but for fear of the Voidbringers. Maybe they clashed on the past and did go into hiding, they learned of the Union and decided to infiltrate to get weapons and tech instead of entering diplomatic relationships and becoming a weapon or a tech of the Union. All that while they waited to get stronger and go into a expansionism spree once more. This theory makes them look like Logan from Fable 3 than anything :)
 
Not only WaterWalk but float too, on T3 units - this is going to be HELL for balance, at least we now have another race in the Kir'Ko tier :D
Not very useful on low-water maps and they'll probably only have one ship like Syndicate or even no ship at all. If anything, their combined weapons, sonic mods, scan-on-hit mod, enemy-copying, and insane AoE are gonna' be the real terror, and the last one requires a lot of 'charging up' to get to full AoE.
 
Not very useful on low-water maps and they'll probably only have one ship like Syndicate or even no ship at all. If anything, their combined weapons, sonic mods, scan-on-hit mod, enemy-copying, and insane AoE are gonna' be the real terror, and the last one requires a lot of 'charging up' to get to full AoE.

They have a naval unit, you can see it on the artwork piece.
 
Yes, but it may have been scrapped. Syndicate had a concept art for a second ship in the art book that comes with the Deluxe Edition content, but we never see it in the game and I think it might not even be in the game files.

Yeah, I wondered why they would need a naval unit if all units are amphibious? That's going to be a tremendous advantage on continent maps, compared to other factions that have to divert resources for naval combat units. I wonder if there will be a compensating factor like reduced movement on land compared to other factions. Of course that would gimp them on land-only maps, maybe difficult to balance.
 
Yeah, I wondered why they would need a naval unit if all units are amphibious? That's going to be a tremendous advantage on continent maps, compared to other factions that have to divert resources for naval combat units. I wonder if there will be a compensating factor like reduced movement on land compared to other factions. Of course that would gimp them on land-only maps, maybe difficult to balance.

Or is it?

Naval combat is still not suboptimal way to invest your resources in. I think it's an aspect of the game that still needs some tweaking and I don't seem to be the only person thinking this. Adding more interesting things to sea tiles might shake things up, but for now the only difference might be in mobility, not naval combat tactics. Being amphibious doesn't mean they fight well over the sea thus they might still need proper naval units. Finally each factions has a unit count, so at least one naval unit should be provided in order to keep the numbers proper. But that is my two cents, it might turn out the opposite :D
 
Yeah, I wondered why they would need a naval unit if all units are amphibious? That's going to be a tremendous advantage on continent maps, compared to other factions that have to divert resources for naval combat units. I wonder if there will be a compensating factor like reduced movement on land compared to other factions. Of course that would gimp them on land-only maps, maybe difficult to balance.
They move just fine on land.
 
@Zalky

I don't know if you're the right person to ask but can we get some Invasions wallpapers?

You official site either misses any promo materials or I'm blind. The only Planetfall wallpapers that I have are from the Premium edition. I would love me some Shakarn wallpapers.

I know there are ways to do it by yourself, but imo Planetfall suffers from a severe lack of desktop wallpapers, and I already browsed the net a couple of times :(
 
@Zalky

I don't know if you're the right person to ask but can we get some Invasions wallpapers?

You official site either misses any promo materials or I'm blind. The only Planetfall wallpapers that I have are from the Premium edition. I would love me some Shakarn wallpapers.

I know there are ways to do it by yourself, but imo Planetfall suffers from a severe lack of desktop wallpapers, and I already browsed the net a couple of times :(
Not sure if somebody is looking out for you or whether it's a coincidence but we posted a link to a high res wallpaper on Twitter/Facebook earlier today.