Age of Wonders: Planetfall - Faction Spotlight: Kir'Ko
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Promethean adds a bunch of Mechanical Tech Units/Class Units. It also adds thermal damage as a channel.
Promethean is also about making your units immune to or even benefiting from fire damage. So you could have melee units walking throug the fire.
If you wanted to buff a strenght, Kirko/Xenophage is the obvious solution.
But if you want to compensate for a weakness, the Kirko could most use some source of Arc Damage. Mechanical counters Psionic but is weak to Arc.
Dvar use the Explosive and Kinetic Damage types. Explosive of course would be some level of counter against swarm shielded blobs. Dvar might also abzse the Kirko weakness agaisnt Mechanic. Plus they might have good knockback, wich might be strong against a melee focussed enemy - knocks them out of melee overwatch/melee overwatch range.
I guess that would be a case where they have to compensate using Secret tech or Dwelling Units
Amazons use Biochemical + Laser weapons. They even have laser Melee weapons
Kirko use Biochemical + Psionic weapons.
A lot of room for difference just by one not using Psionic/Lasers. And one using Kinetik Melee and the other Laser Melee.
Looks like that unit is called Barrager as can be seen in the research screen, it is unlocked before the Ravanous.
Also what may be a Kir´ko naval unit at 0:34.
And what looks to be a Xenoplague unit guarding a structure at 0:51.
And is that another secret tech in this vid? It´s got Systems Regulation, Information Control, Motion Disruption, Network Connectivity, Media Corruption, Pacification Cypher and Neural Integration.
@The Founder,
I am well aware of what DVAR and promethean do, thankyou oh so much.
I explicitly said in my post that the answers to my questions can't really be answered until I get some playtime.
I am well aware of what DVAR and promethean do, thankyou oh so much.
I explicitly said in my post that the answers to my questions can't really be answered until I get some playtime.
Yes it is another secret tech. It cant cant be the xenoplague since it has other icon and green color. The known secret tech so far: Xenoplague, Promethean, Voidtech, Psynubra and 2 we known not much, not even their names. One of these two is the opposite of Psynubra and have this icon.
I think this is the one featured in the kir'ko video since it has very similar color pattern and icon. And we can see 2 units of this secret tech: some kind of humanoid under the name of information control, and a four legged robot with a cannon under network connectivity(at 2:03 both are visible)
I hope that big stone thing the kir'ko borbarded on the strategic map can be controlled somehow
Yes it is another secret tech. It cant cant be the xenoplague since it has other icon and green color. The known secret tech so far: Xenoplague, Promethean, Voidtech, Psynubra and 2 we known not much, not even their names. One of these two is the opposite of Psynubra and have this icon.
I think this is the one featured in the kir'ko video since it has very similar color pattern and icon. And we can see 2 units of this secret tech: some kind of humanoid under the name of information control, and a four legged robot with a cannon under network connectivity(at 2:03 both are visible)
I hope that big stone thing the kir'ko borbarded on the strategic map can be controlled somehow
We do know the name of the one with that icon, it's Celestian
This Icon
@The Founder , in theory, Psynumbra may be just as much of a specialized power amplification, too. Just focused on the Psionic damage side of the equation. That being said, while an Arc Secret Tech would certainly be the most effective means of countering Mechanical-focused foes, two things to consider.
1.
Vanguard and Dvar(maybe not Assembly) seem like their primary Defense stat is going to be Armor, with very limited access to shields, making Biochemical damage, with its multiple means of shredding armor, still quite viable against Mechanical units. Then again, it's only a 19% damage reduction to attack Mechanical units with Psionic damage, which for not having to worry about a ramp up time of armor shredding a target, is pretty solid already.
2.
Psionic damage units can likely convert their damage channel to Thermal, Biochemical(an odd choice for Kir'Ko, considering, but eh), and Arc, as seen below. Meaning, admittedly at the cost of a unit mod slot, they can switch off the Psionic damage channel if its felt necessary. Keep in mind an Arc attack will still need to deal with any Armor a unit might have, while having the lower base damage of a Psionic ability. Meaning they might have been better off simply staying with the Psionic channel and picking a more substantial unit mod.
For what it's worth, Kir'Ko can deal all damage channels, albeit with varying levels of output. Speaking of which, I better understand why Tombles once said that a Laser/Arc Faction would lack flexibility, since Laser and Arc don't have any damage conversion mods, unlike Kinetic (Thermal/Arc, and Kinetic is available to three factions), Psionic (Thermal/Arc/Bio, available to two, both factions will have all damage channels internally accessible), Biochemical (I believe I heard mention of either a Thermal or Arc conversion), or even Explosive (Thermal/Arc/Bio payload icons shown on Mods Diary).
Even so, Laser can bypass and damage shields, among other things, so it has its own tricks, and Arc can do funky things like chain-lightning style bouncing attacks.
1.
Vanguard and Dvar(maybe not Assembly) seem like their primary Defense stat is going to be Armor, with very limited access to shields, making Biochemical damage, with its multiple means of shredding armor, still quite viable against Mechanical units. Then again, it's only a 19% damage reduction to attack Mechanical units with Psionic damage, which for not having to worry about a ramp up time of armor shredding a target, is pretty solid already.
2.
Psionic damage units can likely convert their damage channel to Thermal, Biochemical(an odd choice for Kir'Ko, considering, but eh), and Arc, as seen below. Meaning, admittedly at the cost of a unit mod slot, they can switch off the Psionic damage channel if its felt necessary. Keep in mind an Arc attack will still need to deal with any Armor a unit might have, while having the lower base damage of a Psionic ability. Meaning they might have been better off simply staying with the Psionic channel and picking a more substantial unit mod.
For what it's worth, Kir'Ko can deal all damage channels, albeit with varying levels of output. Speaking of which, I better understand why Tombles once said that a Laser/Arc Faction would lack flexibility, since Laser and Arc don't have any damage conversion mods, unlike Kinetic (Thermal/Arc, and Kinetic is available to three factions), Psionic (Thermal/Arc/Bio, available to two, both factions will have all damage channels internally accessible), Biochemical (I believe I heard mention of either a Thermal or Arc conversion), or even Explosive (Thermal/Arc/Bio payload icons shown on Mods Diary).
Even so, Laser can bypass and damage shields, among other things, so it has its own tricks, and Arc can do funky things like chain-lightning style bouncing attacks.
e do know the name of the one with that icon, it's Celestian
This Iconseems to be the final secret tech, ending in "sis"
The icon Tomipapa mentioned actually appears on a doctrine tech halfway through the video, just like the promethean symbol appears on a doctrine tech in the vanguard video. The other icon seems to be just a placeholder icon. For the name, the celestian tech hasn't been officially revealed, and might be renamed before release.
Also, the one fact we know about celestian tech is that it's doomsday condition is "as close to mind control as it gets". The tech names frequently reference propoganda and information control-how many secret techs are going to have these kind of themes?
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No, Tibbles is correct, Tomipapa posted the icon for one secret tech, while Tibbles posted an icon for another.
I think that the people who made the video switched leaders at some point, so some of the screen shots are showing a slightly different tech tree,
I think that the people who made the video switched leaders at some point, so some of the screen shots are showing a slightly different tech tree,
Nice screenshot Fen.
Celestial/Celestian tech puts me in mind of something "angelic" or "holy," so I am very intrigued by this tech.
Celestial/Celestian tech puts me in mind of something "angelic" or "holy," so I am very intrigued by this tech.
I stand corrected.
That makes six by my count:
Promethean: planet burning
Xenoplague: bioweapons
Psynumbra: shadow daemons
Voidtech: exotic physics effects
Celestian: ???
???sis: Supercomputer
Yes, interesting. Wondering which faction has it as a "standard" tech. I know every faction can pick any secret tech, but there is an obvious visual/aesthetic connection between factions and techs. The armored soldier/tank/robot of the Promethean tech is obviously vanguardish, just as the many legged monstrosities of the Xenoplague are Kir'ko. None of the remaining factions are angelic or holy, but looking at some of the researchable things in the video like Media Corruption or Pacification Cypher i'm inclined to think this will be the Syndicate tech as they are the more diplomatic ones. It makes even more sense as slavers, because the easiest way to prevent a slave revolt if you keep your slaves "happy", or better if they don't even know that they are slaves. This also means voidtech is not a "syndicate thing" although i belive most people thought that(myself included). Now i belive voidtech goes with the Assembly(Frankenstein monsters as Lennart called them) as they seems to be the only ones mad enough to play with such thing. And the icon i posted probably the "Dvar tech"
Not so explicitly but more like how some research and classes were just more obvious.
Human or Dwarf Dread fits the cliché more so than Dwarf Druid, which is quite a good combo.
Yet it is happening unavoidably. But as i said i'm talking about visual/aesthetic connections here not gameplay wise connections, although that will be a thing too. Let's say you don't know anything about this game then some one show you a picture about the Phoenix Walker. After that he ask you where do you think this unit "belongs"? He then put infront of you a couple of vanguard units and a couple of kir'ko units. Quite a straightforward choice . Sure you can make a Kir'ko leader with Promethean spec, but lets be honest here, that Phoenix Walker will always be an odd one among the rest of the kir'ko units. This is actually not a new thing, AoW 3 had the same aesthetic race/class combos although in lesser extent.
@Tomipapa , slight correction, the icon you posted was for the Celestian Secret Tech. The named technologies you're referencing are for a Secret Tech with a currently unknown name, ending in "sis".
Personally, if you wanted to link them, I would consider this bracketing of key identifiers: (again, personally)
Promethean: primarily Mechanical(two/three of the three/four units), Thermal, AoE damage, and to a lesser extent, raw defenses(anti-Thermal in particular)
-- Thematic links:
Primary:
- Vanguard: primarily Mechanical, Thermal(Laser Weapon Tech), durability from raw defense stats(health/armor)
- Dvar: primarily Mechanical(implied), AoE damage, durability from raw defense stats(health/armor)
Secondary:
- Assembly: primarily Cyborg(similar to Mechanical), unknown damage application propensity, durability possibly from raw defense stats(armor/shields)
Tertiary:
- the remaining three have poor thematic connection, and possibly poor unit mod synergy, aside from the Purifier, if their non-weapon-tech mods are primarily/exclusively Bio and Bio/Cyborg.
We can't really do an accurate detailed analysis, such that the above even counted as one, of the remaining ones, but:
Xenoplague: Biochemical, Biological
-- Thematic links:
- Kir'Ko: Biochemical, Biological, Evolution(arguably)
- Amazon: Biochemical, Biological, Genetic manipulation(also arguably)
Secondary:
- Syndicate: Biological, and possibly matching some unknown identifier for Xenoplague
- Assembly: Cyborg(it's notable that many Biological unit mods also have the tag for Cyborg, and the reverse might be true as well, or perhaps some Cyborg mods directly from Assembly are Biological, and some are Mechanical in concept), and again possibly matching currently unknown identifiers
Tertiary:
- Vanguard and Dvar have limited thematic synergy, and possibly limited unit mod synergy in some cases, although it didn't seem that Vanguard had a lot of Mech-only mods.
Psynumbra: The only thing we really know is Psionics are extremely likely, giving them a conceptual link with both Kir'Ko and Syndicate. Their units might count as Biological.
VoidTech: We only know of some unit mod names, and a weapon that deals Kinetic damage. Conceptually, I consider both Vanguard and Assembly reasonably evenly for thematic link, but that's just a personal thought on what VoidTech might be, and is entirely unfounded.
Celestian: Entirely unknown aside from the symbol. No real conclusions to be drawn.
Name ending in "sis": Military techs appear to be associated with information regulation, with a modest technological bent. The two closest factions, for different thematic reasons, would appear to be Assembly and Syndicate.
Personally, if you wanted to link them, I would consider this bracketing of key identifiers: (again, personally)
Promethean: primarily Mechanical(two/three of the three/four units), Thermal, AoE damage, and to a lesser extent, raw defenses(anti-Thermal in particular)
-- Thematic links:
Primary:
- Vanguard: primarily Mechanical, Thermal(Laser Weapon Tech), durability from raw defense stats(health/armor)
- Dvar: primarily Mechanical(implied), AoE damage, durability from raw defense stats(health/armor)
Secondary:
- Assembly: primarily Cyborg(similar to Mechanical), unknown damage application propensity, durability possibly from raw defense stats(armor/shields)
Tertiary:
- the remaining three have poor thematic connection, and possibly poor unit mod synergy, aside from the Purifier, if their non-weapon-tech mods are primarily/exclusively Bio and Bio/Cyborg.
We can't really do an accurate detailed analysis, such that the above even counted as one, of the remaining ones, but:
Xenoplague: Biochemical, Biological
-- Thematic links:
- Kir'Ko: Biochemical, Biological, Evolution(arguably)
- Amazon: Biochemical, Biological, Genetic manipulation(also arguably)
Secondary:
- Syndicate: Biological, and possibly matching some unknown identifier for Xenoplague
- Assembly: Cyborg(it's notable that many Biological unit mods also have the tag for Cyborg, and the reverse might be true as well, or perhaps some Cyborg mods directly from Assembly are Biological, and some are Mechanical in concept), and again possibly matching currently unknown identifiers
Tertiary:
- Vanguard and Dvar have limited thematic synergy, and possibly limited unit mod synergy in some cases, although it didn't seem that Vanguard had a lot of Mech-only mods.
Psynumbra: The only thing we really know is Psionics are extremely likely, giving them a conceptual link with both Kir'Ko and Syndicate. Their units might count as Biological.
VoidTech: We only know of some unit mod names, and a weapon that deals Kinetic damage. Conceptually, I consider both Vanguard and Assembly reasonably evenly for thematic link, but that's just a personal thought on what VoidTech might be, and is entirely unfounded.
Celestian: Entirely unknown aside from the symbol. No real conclusions to be drawn.
Name ending in "sis": Military techs appear to be associated with information regulation, with a modest technological bent. The two closest factions, for different thematic reasons, would appear to be Assembly and Syndicate.
Where are you getting the impression that the syndicate is mostly biological from?
Well, for one, their title screen art showed only soldiers/slavers and aristocratic seeming individuals, aside from the flying slave transport(s). This isn't really a strong point, but mildly relevant, considering the Vanguard and Dvar screens showed plenty of mechanical units(Well, the Dvar was technically only one unit, but it was a huge one, possibly even their T4). Also, it gave a feel of their conceptual theme.
Two, due to the inherent nature of Psionics, I personally presume them to only be available to Biological(and Cyborgs with the right hero equipment) units. Syndicate have Psionic as one of their Weapon Groups, meaning roughly have of their units utilize Psionic weaponry already, likely making those units Biological. The remaining Arc weapon wielding units could all be Mechanical, I suppose, but I rather doubt it myself. Yes, in some universes psionic wave emitters are a thing, and it's technically possible it is here, too, so there is that potential for Mechanical Psionic units, but it doesn't seem to fit the Syndicate theme.
As such, I imagine they might have at least a Flying Mechanical unit(looking like one of their flyers in the title screen), and perhaps another, but overall be primarily Biological. Naval units, too, most likely. I only really feel like Kir'Ko and potentially Amazon would have Biological naval units.
All in all, it would lead to two factions leaning Mechanical(Vanguard/Dvar), one that nearly [is] Mechanical, but is Cyborg(a rather versatile trait) instead(Assembly), one that is 100% pure Biological(Kir'Ko), one that leans heavily if not entirely Biological(Amazon), and another which leans Biological, with a few likely-Mechanical units(Syndicate)
Two, due to the inherent nature of Psionics, I personally presume them to only be available to Biological(and Cyborgs with the right hero equipment) units. Syndicate have Psionic as one of their Weapon Groups, meaning roughly have of their units utilize Psionic weaponry already, likely making those units Biological. The remaining Arc weapon wielding units could all be Mechanical, I suppose, but I rather doubt it myself. Yes, in some universes psionic wave emitters are a thing, and it's technically possible it is here, too, so there is that potential for Mechanical Psionic units, but it doesn't seem to fit the Syndicate theme.
As such, I imagine they might have at least a Flying Mechanical unit(looking like one of their flyers in the title screen), and perhaps another, but overall be primarily Biological. Naval units, too, most likely. I only really feel like Kir'Ko and potentially Amazon would have Biological naval units.
All in all, it would lead to two factions leaning Mechanical(Vanguard/Dvar), one that nearly [is] Mechanical, but is Cyborg(a rather versatile trait) instead(Assembly), one that is 100% pure Biological(Kir'Ko), one that leans heavily if not entirely Biological(Amazon), and another which leans Biological, with a few likely-Mechanical units(Syndicate)