Age of Wonders: Planetfall - Faction Spotlight: Kir'Ko

[emmasterakia]

Welcome to the Age of Wonders: Planetfall Faction Spotlight on the Kir'Ko! With a sense of lost unity from their shattered hive mind, the Kir'ko have a choice to make: retribution or reconciliation.


Find the second Faction Video for Kir'Ko here:

 

[Jean-Luc]

Cool to see they have 2 paths to take gameplay wise. I believe this is the first time we've seen mutually exclusive techs. Are their victory conditions also tied to reconciliation/revenge?

 

[Fenraellis]

Pretty sure they are not mutually exclusive, just conceptually opposed. You can still likely run both doctrines at the same time, though, to combine happiness bonuses with a damage bonus, if so desired.

That aside, I was glad to see my guess about the Tormented being an artillery style unit was correct. Also neat to see burrowing units, and even mini-regrowth mods. Their Swarm Shield Tactical Operations give some interesting extra incentive for focusing on your primary faction, if you feel like it, too.

 

[Jean-Luc]

Pretty sure they are not mutually exclusive, just conceptually opposed. You can still likely run both doctrines at the same time, though, to combine happiness bonuses with a damage bonus, if so desired.

Yeah, I guess. It just felt exclusive the way it was presented.

 

[The Founder]

Yeah, I guess. It just felt exclusive the way it was presented.

I too read a very clear "Mutually Exclusive" vibe from that.
I think it is a Strategic Operation/Doctinr Hybrid. And I think I saw mutually exclusive Global Spells all the way back in AoW 2.

 

[BloodyBattleBrain]

I'll watch it when I get home and I shall have very many questions.

 

[Alex646]

Well, I hoped for some more Hivemind-focused race. But currently it looks like some generic insect human-alike race with organic rifles.

 

[Fenraellis]

Well, I hoped for some more Hivemind-focused race. But currently it looks like some generic insect human-alike race with organic rifles.

Aside from the fact their lore outright states the hivemind state they used to have was violently removed, yet they managed to persevere, there is the fact only one of their units (the Hidden) uses any form of firearm. Well, their Leaders and heroes can, but that's a bit different.

 

[The Founder]

Well, I hoped for some more Hivemind-focused race. But currently it looks like some generic insect human-alike race with organic rifles.

Having a proper Hivemind needs a lot of modificaiton to core game mechanics, with Happiness and Morale being the lesser worries.
Paradox actually has two Hiveminds for the Game Stellaris. And at large they sidestep a lot of the content simply because it makes no sense to have them.

Maybe they add the Hivemind to the Cybernetic looking human subrace?

 

[Alex646]

Paradox actually has two Hiveminds for the Game Stellaris. And at large they sidestep a lot of the content simply because it makes no sense to have them.

Well, in case of Stellaris I could say that dev's laziness was cause that Hive Minds were very boring to play at beginning. Later they implemented some additional features and hive minds became interesting to play.

 

[The Masked Man]

Really fascinating stuff, curious to learn more about their units, I spied a few interesting ones in the tech tree. Are we getting a Kir’ko dev diary today or only the spotlight?

 

[LordTheRon]

Oh lovely. Really like those two concepts in the tech tree. Keep the info coming!

 

[BloodyBattleBrain]

Revenge and reconciliation seem to unlock from the same tech but you choose just one.


So mutually exclusive.

Which I'm fine with.

 

[Destrada]

Interesting. I like the fact that they can choose to seek reconciliation or revenge.

 

[The Founder]

Interesting. I like the fact that they can choose to seek reconciliation or revenge.

As long as they do not go hunt any White Whales. Nothing good ever comes out of hunting those.

 

[LennartGS]

No White Whales, we've got Octowhales in Planetfall

 

[Damkac]

You won't let us see tier 4 units

I would love some Ender's Game reference with Kir'ko.

 

[Damkac]

No White Whales, we've got Octowhales in Planetfall

So octopus-whale hybrid? Can't wait to see it!

 

[meiam89.]

So no restoring the hive mind option? That kinda feel like that'd be there real goal.

 

[BloodyBattleBrain]

So no restoring the hive mind option? That kinda feel like that'd be there real goal.

A cool idea.

If it's in the pipework I suspect Triumph are keeping it quiet so players can discover it on their own.

I have various questions but all of them will probably be answered when I get to play.

Mostly questions about cost, accessibility, interplay with secret techs, like

How viable is a Kir'ko Promethean combo?

I was thinking that the frenzied get that area of effect ability, and the tormented too (psionic for the latter) so maybe adding in the promethean area of effect gas cloud that explodes (was mentioned in the Vanguard focused gameplay reveal iirc?) Could be very interesting.

Questions like:

To what degree are they hard countered by the explosive DVAR and how much overlap do they have with the Amazons (also primarily melee.)

How would an Amazon versus Kir'ko fight develop?