Age of Wonders: Planetfall - Dev Diary #60: Conquered Worlds

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Corpseprince

Major
Triumph Studio Dev
Dec 7, 2018
769
90
Hello Commanders! Today I’ll be sharing the details on the new planet template: Conquered World, which will be included in the Age of Wonders: Planetfall - Invasions Expansion, releasing 26th of May.


The Conquered World:

A team of allied Commanders face off against one single, stronger Commander. The allied Commanders will need to combine all of their forces, resources and wits to stand a chance in this high-paced new game mode.

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Conceptualization:

For this Expansion's new Planet Template, we wanted to build something more special than the unique quests seen in the Infested World (Deluxe Edition) and Tomb World (Revelations Expansion).

Conquered World delivers a co-op game mode for 4 to 6 players duking it out in one-versus-many battle. The solo Commander starts with extra starting colonies and forces, leading to early clashes with the allied team.

The planet template will be available in both single- and multiplayer.



Gameplay:

The Conquered World will be present in the list of planet types when starting a new planet. An extra option on the right side menu allows you to set up which side you would like to play as.

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Do it solo…

The solo Commander starts off in the middle of the map, with a number of colonies equal to the number of opponents they’re facing.
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The early forces this Commander gains will need to be put to work, as their colonies start off surrounded by many wildlife and marauder spawners!

These colonies also start off with a special Auxiliary Generator, providing extra resources to pay for upkeep for the extra starting armies. This structure also provides Cosmite to be able to mod the extra units, as well as food and production to help initial Colony growth.

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…or bring your friends

The allied Commanders start spread out across the world, each an equal distance away from the Commander in the middle.

The team starts out with a trick up its collective sleeve as well. Every allied Commander starts next to a Forward Base with an Orbital Relay.

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An Orbital Relay can transport forces between any other Orbital Relay within the empire or any belonging to allied Commanders. Use these to orchestrate combined attacks, or to rush to a teammate’s defence when required.

These Relays have an upkeep, provided for by the Orbital Relay Batteries every allied Commander gets in their HQ.

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Note that in order to build additional Relays, players still need to research Orbital Relay Development.

The Orbital Relay Batteries, just like the Auxiliary Generators, will remain in the colonies they start in, making them valuable targets to be captured.



Planet Setup and available rules

With the teams set up as one versus many with one Commander having extra resources, the Domination, Score and Unifier Victory Conditions cannot be achieved on Conquered Worlds. The upcoming Invasions mechanic will also be unavailable for these planets.

Conquered Worlds can only be Medium size, as the distance and room to expand between the solo Commander and the allied Commanders should be fair in all situations.

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A powerful empire with a foothold on the planet is facing off a united team of underdogs. Come 26th of May, the Conquered Worlds will be up for grabs. It is time to pick your side.
 
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Looks interesting. How well does it work with just AI? I'd see you playing the big dog working well enough, but I could see it being a bit rough taking on the big guy with just AI for teammates.
 
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This looks really interesting! A fun twist! Do the allied commanders have to share secret tech or any other features? Or are they just random ones thrust together by circumstance?
 
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An interesting concept that plays on the whole "Invasion" theme. When I was watching Tom's stream, on a theoretical level I was wondering about how the supposedly "invading" Shakarn play so well with other factions, you know, playing diplomats, making peace-treaties and such. It can probably be argumented one way or another (subterfuge, lying game etc), but you actually made something of a game mode to cover this theme of Shakarn being the "invading forces" as naturally they can be made into the "big boss". Nice.

That said two things interest me: like it was mentioned above already - how does AI work with this mode (are we able to coordinate attacks for instance?), and obviously - balancing (is the handicap too big or too small etc, is it configurable etc). I wonder how you guys tackled it as it seems like a rather hard thing to do right (for instance what if the "big boss" is a mechanical faction like Dvar, and all opponents use Arc or Synthesis loadouts).

Looking forward to checking it out when it comes, I will naturally play as the Shakarn invaders XD

EDIT: I just noticed that the commander on third screen looks like a humanoid Chelus (or turtle if you don't know what I mean) :D
 
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I could see it being a bit rough taking on the big guy with just AI for teammates.
how does AI work with this mode (are we able to coordinate attacks for instance?),

Yes, you can use War Coordination in your teammate's diplomacy to request defenses or strikes on targets of your choice!


Do the allied commanders have to share secret tech or any other features?

No! You can mix and match whoever you want - Celestian Assembly being in the same team as Psynumbra Vanguard? Go for it!
 
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Does someone on Triumph have been slacking off to play Sorcerer King? ;)
Look interesting, hope the AI can handle the map. Also hope that the players intelligence can handle the map :p

This is not even remotely serious for competitive play - hard pass for a useless mode.

If you want competitive play go for LOL or Starcraft and don't play the game. Not everything need to be balanced and competitive on a game :D
 
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Yes, you can use War Coordination in your teammate's diplomacy to request defenses or strikes on targets of your choice!

Yeah I now even remember using it once. But it wasn't actually that useful, AI seemed to be pretty sluggish on the action. And we are talking precisely timed strikes. I think the AI needs to be beefed up for this mode, unless you're the "big guy". You don't need to coordinate someone else then.

This is not even remotely serious for competitive play - hard pass for a useless mode.

First try, then comment.

And even if you don't like it there are plenty of people who will enjoy it. Plus it's added content, they didn't even mention it anywhere before so it's a nice surprise. I for one have a feeling I will like this mode very much.
 
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they didn't even mention it anywhere before so it's a nice surprise.
Depends on your before, we mention it in the Invasions Announcement Post/Dairy and the Steam Page but it wasn't part of the content announced in the Season Pass after Revelation.
Yeah I now even remember using it once. But it wasn't actually that useful, AI seemed to be pretty sluggish on the action. And we are talking precisely timed strikes. I think the AI needs to be beefed up for this mode, unless you're the "big guy". You don't need to coordinate someone else then.
AI playing as the solo commander does surprisingly well, you're AI partners shouldn't be too much in a bind due to the extra resource provided and as you start off in Teams there's already a war focus. Did you use the War Coordination Pre- or Post-Trex? Cause we did make changes and improvements to the system in the Trex Update.
 
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Depends on your before, we mention it in the Invasions Announcement Post/Dairy and the Steam Page but it wasn't part of the content announced in the Season Pass after Revelation.

Probably missed that :)

AI playing as the solo commander does surprisingly well, you're AI partners shouldn't be too much in a bind due to the extra resource provided and as you start off in Teams there's already a war focus. Did you use the War Coordination Pre- or Post-Trex? Cause we did make changes and improvements to the system in the Trex Update.

Ughhh, can't remember it might've been before T-rex. All the better I guess!
 
The starting orbital relays sound like something nice to have for team play in general. Right now it feels like a coordinated attack is easier to organize than a coordinated defense.
 
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This is not even remotely serious for competitive play - hard pass for a useless mode.

imagine being the kind of person who comes into a dev diary for what is clearly a game mode intended for a different group of players and making this comment

is this what your contribution to a dev diary on the new campaign would be too
 
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I love it, always wanted a more combat scenario
 
First try, then comment.

And even if you don't like it there are plenty of people who will enjoy it. Plus it's added content, they didn't even mention it anywhere before so it's a nice surprise. I for one have a feeling I will like this mode very much.


like how could you miss the opportunity for king of the hill type structure. i mean if 1v1 is everything at least consider the applications for this for seeding.
 
Nice addition!

I welcome this new planet as I really like 'unequal' starting positions. This provides variety in games.
More of these types of planets are welcome aswell as (even) more customization options in the Set Up! Keep it up guys.