Age of Wonders: Planetfall - Dev Diary #9: World Map Structures I: Exploration Phase

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Soon enough you’ll meet sectors occupied by one of the NPC (Non-Primary Combatant) Factions like the Autonom, Growth or Paragon. These NPCs claim sectors using bases, like players do

Autonom is new.

NPC factors actively expanding ==> more active, lived in world.

Bases will Spawn raiding stacks of that faction if relations turn hostile.

NPC factions making life difficult for me ==> :)


The Hopperhound. A giant locust that can jump great distances and rip through armor.


This is new. :)

Hazards originate from crater locations and can be removed after researching Hazard Removal Technology.


So, good tension in deciding what to research. Research "better bullets" or "hazard tech?"

edit: I note that the events messages occupy the same slot as in AoW3.

Would it be possible to have a collapsable/expandable messages system.

By which I mean, one flashing icon for research events, one for combat, one for empire stuff, one for cities, and then up to the player to expand that, so clicking research would bring up the smart defence modules and nanite support messages shown in the screen shot.


And can we also have it that, if I am perusing a message, I don't get dragged away because a scout got ganked halfway across the map.
 
So unrelated to the actual DD, I'd like to ask if you can at some point in the future address things like snowballing and wide vs tall, because that's something where AoW3 had some issues. A wide, city-spamming empire was always the way to go, so I'm interested to know if Planetfall makes changes in that area.
 
So unrelated to the actual DD, I'd like to ask if you can at some point in the future address things like snowballing and wide vs tall, because that's something where AoW3 had some issues. A wide, city-spamming empire was always the way to go, so I'm interested to know if Planetfall makes changes in that area.

I think that most old time AOW fans who have been following all things Planetfall very closely agree that the sector system will make the city spamming strategy impossible: the amount of cities is limited to the amount of "city sectors". You can't just build a new city in any sector.

You can also see in today's screenshots that a city cannot just claim all adjacent sectors in rapid succession: probably, the city needs to grow before more sectors can be claimed.

So the sector system, which might seem like a subtle change from AOW3, will probably completely change the pace of the game. Hope that helps!
 
So unrelated to the actual DD, I'd like to ask if you can at some point in the future address things like snowballing and wide vs tall, because that's something where AoW3 had some issues. A wide, city-spamming empire was always the way to go, so I'm interested to know if Planetfall makes changes in that area.

LOL:
Read this.

And this.

Lots of good ideas being thrown around there.

And this too.
 
I think that most old time AOW fans who have been following all things Planetfall very closely agree that the sector system will make the city spamming strategy impossible: the amount of cities is limited to the amount of "city sectors". You can't just build a new city in any sector.

I went over DD #3 and all it says there is that landmarks (and possibly large dwellings) stop you from building cities in a sector. All others seem to be fair game.

Moreover acquiring a new sector is kind of like building a new city lite; it still adds to the snowball.
 
What I'm curious about is are Psynumbras a secret tech?

Also, are those guys in the top left of the first shot units from the sixth faction? They seem to have they're own city, don't look like cyborgs, and have the same icon as the Not Dvar tank from last DD.
 
Would it be possible to have a collapsable/expandable messages system.

By which I mean, one flashing icon for research events, one for combat, one for empire stuff, one for cities, and then up to the player to expand that, so clicking research would bring up the smart defence modules and nanite support messages shown in the screen shot.

Good idea BBB, might work. Events are a nice tool but can be overwhelming. Collapsible interfaces are tricky with controller though (*ducking*)

What I'm curious about is are Psynumbras a secret tech?

Yes it sure is.

Also, are those guys in the top left of the first shot units from the sixth faction? They seem to have they're own city, don't look like cyborgs, and have the same icon as the Not Dvar tank from last DD.

They are an NPC Faction.

I went over DD #3 and all it says there is that landmarks (and possibly large dwellings) stop you from building cities in a sector. All others seem to be fair game.

Moreover acquiring a new sector is kind of like building a new city lite; it still adds to the snowball.

You can't found cities next to one another. Further anti-snow ball mechanics like diminishing returns linked to # of cities are considered and will be called in if necessary. Size and density of maps are big factors here.
 
You can't found cities next to one another. Further anti-snow ball mechanics like diminishing returns linked to # of cities are considered and will be called in if necessary. Size and density of maps are big factors here.
Hmmmmmmmmm....

Density of maps is indeed a concern. If you can only settle in 20% of sectors, that may mean having a single additional city over the opponents could be a maaassive advantage, since it might as well be 20% more settlements (if others have up to 5). I assume there will be independent settled towns around as well, in which case you might accidentally step into a trap - you want to settle a sector, but cannot, because there is a city you cannot know about (you've not seen it) in the neighbouring sector.

Being unable to settle may suddenly feel like a third party stepped in and explicitly told you that you cannot do that by having access to more information (the existence of a town in a neighbouring sector) than you, which may feel unnatural.

EDIT: I guess the main question here is the number of sectors (just a random example of a viable game scenario would do) and the relative amount of them being habitable (10%? 20%?) for an average 6-8 player game on a mediumish world. ie how many towns would one expect to get on a roughly even distribution (not taking into account Kir'Ko's probable population boost etc.)?
 
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Good idea BBB, might work. Events are a nice tool but can be overwhelming. Collapsible interfaces are tricky with controller though (*ducking*)

@ the risk of being *that* PC master race guy, would it be bad to have different interfaces?

Psynumbra = secret tech, therefore we know know of 3 secret techs iirc:


Prometheus - burn baby burn.

Xeno something or other - Plague Lord.

Psynumbra - guessing this will push you towards "evil" and trade off happiness, resources etc in return for some goddamed scary units and abilities?
 
a lot of the concepts introduced in this diary are really interesting! NPCs sound like an interesting addition, i guess they're kind of like independent cities with a bit extra going on? do conquered npc factions give you access to their units? being unable to get a new race from indie city spawns would make sense with the heightened importance of race, but also i worry that it might lead to a lack of diversity in armies (you'll only ever use your starting race)

the scan range mechanic sounds like it could create some interesting strategic plays. you could fake out an opponent by clustering a few scouts together to look like an army on the radar blip, or have a full stack act like a scout to crush whatever small scoutkiller army the other guy sends at them.
 
The game looks absolutely beautiful. However, I hope you realise that the lore text for the bonus event you showcase here makes literally no sense. "Among the burned out wrecks of this convoy, next to an energy pod worth 37 (lightning symbol) we found a nearly depleated, but still intact." A still intact what? A still intact sentinel? A still intact droid? Why does this event have such an epic title (the lost sentinel) when it is just about some random abandoned droid?
 
I like this game more every time i know more of it, i wonder if that is the feel that the game itself want, exploration, discovery, and reward. This game it is not a Stellaris RTS, which is good, it is all the thing of Age of Wonders 3, but better and in space, that Abyss still. Why when i see it i was thinking of shadow demons-Unbidden? I really look forward to see what all the factions are.
 
The game looks absolutely beautiful. However, I hope you realise that the lore text for the bonus event you showcase here makes literally no sense. "Among the burned out wrecks of this convoy, next to an energy pod worth 37 (lightning symbol) we found a nearly depleated, but still intact." A still intact what? A still intact sentinel? A still intact droid? Why does this event have such an epic title (the lost sentinel) when it is just about some random abandoned droid?
Think it’s the Golem mentioned in the choices