Age of Wonders: Planetfall - Dev Diary #59: The Therians

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My only complaint is this means we are much less likely to get them as a full on playable faction. I would love to be more able to make full armies of these units. Especially the rabbits, love the concept of jumping in to AoE bullet spray.
 
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I'm gonna turn all my leaders and heroes into squirrels, screw the haters.

I, for one, am not a hater. I simply don't quite understand the design decision behind Chemist being T3 unless it's about the number of abilities it has. Whatever.

I also think Prowler might not be ideal as T1, but on the other hand when you compare them to Troopers, Frenzied or even the new Brawler unit I think it kinda makes sense...

I also agree about Apex antlers. At one point I thought it looked cool, but when I looked at the concept art, I simply liked it more with no-antlers and cybernetic arm. It looks more menacing. Unless Therians will really get something from this whole "Deer" persona aside from an emblem and headgear, I also think the antlers are obsolete unless devs want to keep it as a sort of quirk that makes the unit stand out more than your avarage "lion person". Apex kinda reminds me of this guy here and his other MtG kin:

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Antrophomorphic faction is something the game lacked so I'm happy it got added. But I wish it was a bit more serious. The squirrel throwing acorns is too ridiculous just like chicken-throwing halfings in AoW3. Sure this series is know for dire penguins but those are more like an easter eggs than regular units.
 
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Antrophomorphic faction is something the game lacked so I'm happy it got added. But I wish it was a bit more serious. The squirrel throwing acorns is too ridiculous just like chicken-throwing halfings in AoW3. Sure this series is know for dire penguins but those are more like an easter eggs than regular units.

That's a good point. One goofy unit like dire penguins is an Easter egg. Two ore more goofy units start to dilute the impact. So now we have penguins, pigs, squirrels, and bunny units, none of which really feel like Easter eggs. More like Animal Farm. But it's okay, it's okay. I'm still playing the game. :)
 
That's a good point. One goofy unit like dire penguins is an Easter egg. Two ore more goofy units start to dilute the impact. So now we have penguins, pigs, squirrels, and bunny units, none of which really feel like Easter eggs. More like Animal Farm. But it's okay, it's okay. I'm still playing the game. :)
So, has anybody else here played Tooth and Tail, which features goofy animal units and is also super gritty and intense?
 
So, has anybody else here played Tooth and Tail, which features goofy animal units and is also super gritty and intense?

I did.

I don't consider anthromorphic characters as "goofy". There are a lot of highly praised pieces of work that feature animals as a medium to present a story. They are as good characters as any other, sometimes even better, becasue they bring some additional characteristics that let the viewer immidiately recognize, for example, what a character is about.

At the end of the day Therians appear to be a well-designed faction that additionaly pays a homage to/is inspired by a plethora of recognizable sci-fi/pop/gaming motives.
 
I don't consider anthromorphic characters as "goofy". There are a lot of highly praised pieces of work that feature animals as a medium to present a story. They are as good characters as any other, sometimes even better, becasue they bring some additional characteristics that let the viewer immidiately recognize, for example, what a character is about.
Oh, dude. Dude. Believe me, I know alllll about the virtues of using anthropomorphic animals in storytelling.

I meant goofy as in, "using literal mustard as mustard gas, skunks with fart bombs, and using puns to puke up zombies". Which of course intentionally clashes with the gritty war-is-hell setting.
 
Oh, dude. Dude. Believe me, I know alllll about the virtues of using anthropomorphic animals in storytelling.

I meant goofy as in, "using literal mustard as mustard gas, skunks with fart bombs, and using puns to puke up zombies". Which of course intentionally clashes with the gritty war-is-hell setting.

I dunno' about you, but Planetfall never came off as a 'war-is-hell' setting to me. If anything, it's more pulp sci-fi, and the wacky anthros are quite in-line with that.
 
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I dunno' about you, but Planetfall never came off as a 'war-is-hell' setting to me. If anything, it's more pulp sci-fi, and the wacky anthros are quite in-line with that.

Yep. I think it can be modded into something more serious, or you can simply assume so when role-playing (for example I made this entirely black-and-green color themed Kir'ko Xenoplague commander that eats humans for lunch), but the game definately doesn't strike me as "war-is-hell" type of game.
 
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I was talking about TnT, just to use it as an example of how it's possible to mix slightly goofy elements and maintain a serious tone--that one is naturally darker than AoW.
 
I, for one, am not a hater. I simply don't quite understand the design decision behind Chemist being T3 unless it's about the number of abilities it has. Whatever.
I think that is basically it. If those attacks are area attacks, they're hitting fairly hard. There's also a couple of support abilities in the mix there, and while we don't know the numbers, if those are area support abilities...

Feels like a similar principle to Rocket Racoon - size doesn't matter of your explosives are potent enough.
 
Wolf Dudes aren't sipping who-knows-what homebrew Regenerative Serum? And aren't wearing much in the way of armour. The Squirrel has a helmet. That has to be worth +1.
 
Guess we need to wait and see the actual Chemist in action. It's eyes alone make it look like a highly dangerous individual. I guess it can be somewhat compared to Subjugator - an obese man riding a flying chair doesn't exactly strike me in a way something seemingly dangerous as a Tyrranodon does, yet both are T3. Actually Planetfall is a game where clean-bots were turned into murderous weapons so I guess anything goes :D
 
So, someone just pointed out the Deer pun, and I just groaned.

'cuz he's Deer Leader.
 
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So, someone just pointed out the Deer pun, and I just groaned.

'cuz he's Deer Leader.

Our Deer leader welcomes you deerly into our deerly beloved family. You can deerectly apply our Deer serum (and change into a Therian) or just wear our deer emblem as a sign of deerest friendship.

Had enough?