Age of Wonders: Planetfall - Steam Open Beta Program

[Triumph Jordi]

Hailing all Commanders

Last week we teased a upcoming Balance patch, while this patch won't officially release just yet we're making it available to Open Beta users now. This is a in development patch aimed to collect feedback from a larger segment of our player base. This patch contains balance changes that were on the backburner for older Races & Secret Techs and addresses some of the bigger Oathbound balance concerns. Be aware that this patch may be unstable and not all text changes have been localised yet.

How to get on the Steam Open Beta

• Go to the Steam Library
• Right-click Age of Wonders Planetfall and select Properties
• Go to the Betas tab and select open_beta in the dropdown
• The game should now switch to the open beta content

V1.402.43757 - Patch Notes
Fixes
General

• Fixed issue where pressing Y/Triangle on controller when starting a new planet while the galactic empire hall of heroes is already completely filled would still enter the recruit new hero screen (with no available heroes) even though there was no button prompt visible.
• Fixed issue where the “Now you see me” and “Critical Failure” achievements could be triggered by AI players.
• Fixed issue where several filters were not being shown for the Title screen Imperial Archives and in the Galactic Empire Requisition screen.
• Fixed issue where the “Grail Detected” planet trait would now show up in blue colored text with the relic icon when for active or available planets.
• Fixed issue where the Unit Template Manager would visually not properly refresh when scrolling the list after toggling the production state of one or more templates.
• Fixed the issue where the food sharing would reset back to default when on share all after the number of colonists slots
• Fixed issue where invasion structure could spawn on lava sectors
• Fixed an issue that meant units with -200 morale would have a 50% chance to desert instead of a 5% chance.
• Fixed a recieve/receive spelling mistake in Happiness Events
• Fixed Statis Pocket Inducer displaying the incorrect Strength Chances
• Fixed Filter Settings for Various Doctrines & Operations

Campaign

• Fixed a rare bug, where the “Zemestian-4” mission would crash if Mephilas the Redeemer was in a vehicle by the end of the previous “Chimera Glacialis” mission.
• Fixed an issue that the Oathbound Exemplar rewarded by the “Claim the Grail” quest in the second Oathbound mission was in Glaive mode rather than Shield mode.
• Fixed an issue where scripts in campaign could sometimes cause defeated players to declare war or change their diplomatic state towards other players.
• Fixed an issue where the player could get negative popular support from a scripted war in the second Oathbound campaign mission.
• Fixed a translation mistake in Polish in the Grail choice menu. “Reject Oracle…” is now “Embrace Oracle…” in Polish.

Updates
Features

• Added an Undo Movement button into combat. This lets you undo the last unit move that you made, as long as the unit was not damaged en route, and no other unit abilities or operations have been triggered since.

General

• Galactic Empire planets that feature grail quests will now only spawn grail sites that are not present (and completed by the player) on any of the conquered planets in the empire to make sure players do not have to rely on random chance for gathering all relics. (If all grails have been captured then grails will be fully random again)
• The available planets for galactic empires will now feature up to 7 (but not fewer than 3) planets that are based on the current level of the planet you will have: 1 planet of the right difficulty, 1 planet that is above your ideal difficulty (if possible) and 1 planet for each difficulty level below your ideal difficulty.
• Removed the reputation bonus for sending gifts through diplomatic trades; this was causing exploits in both the Oathbound campaign and in multiplayer games where players could just send gifts back and forth for quick reputation gains.
• Changes to how the scan grail cypher interaction is working. After scanning the player will receive an event.
• Updated the Tooltip for Residential Exploitations to make clearer how they function
• Updated the Tooltip for Popular Support to match the Triceratops Changes

Galactic Empires

• The ‘Settle the Claim' secondary objective, no longer triggers on any diplomatic state change while an alliance is maintained with either target player.
• Hive Development Empire Request now completes on 12 population rather than 16 to prevent issues with the Limited Space planet trait.

Syndicate

• Syndicate Subjugator
  • Now has Impose Discipline
  • Heavy Repeater now does 12 damage (was 11)
  • Project Agony Field now has a strength 8 chance to apply Immobilize, with Slow on resist (was Strength 8 to apply Broken Mind) and has a 1 turn cooldown (was 2 turns)

Entropy Weapon Tech

• Maxwell's Puzzle Box
  • Now hits a 1 hex radius at range 9 (was 4 hex cone)
  • Now has 2 chances to apply a random debuff (was 1)

Arc Weapon Tech

• Positronic Arc Storm Projector no longer applies Stun

Laser Weapon Tech

• Laser Precision Module now gives +30% damage (was +20%)

Oathbound

• Precognition no longer stacks.
• Oracle's Favor no longer gives a stack of Precognition to their army at the start of battle, and instead gives Precognition after they kill an enemy unit and costs 2 points.
• Oath of Loyalty now has a limit of +2 armor from adjacent units
• Fatalism no longer guarantees success for instant kill operations and abilities
• The critical chance bonus from Providence is now properly capped and can no longer exceed the hit chance of the attack
• Expedite doom now has a strength 8 chance to instantly kill (was 12) and can now only instantly kill tier 1-3 units.
• Beacon of Hope now has a radius of 2 hexes (was 3) and no longer stacks with itself.
• Destiny’s Manuscript now has a radius of 3 hexes (was 5) and will apply either Fatalism or Adversity (was both)
• Aspirant now has 40hp (was 45)
• Protector now has 4 armor (was 5)
• Protector now gains Shrug Off at prime rank (was Firm)
• Protector’s Embolden ability no longer puts the unit into defense mode after being used.
• Fixed an issue that meant the Diviner’s Not Your Time could only target round units
• Added seer scrolls visual to the Oathbound Hacker
• Exemplar
  • Storm Glaive now does 14 damage (was 16)
  • Fixed Glaive mode not giving the 25% bonus damage it should
  • Reduced base damage of Onslaught so it’s still 30 with the above bonus
• Overload Power Core hero skill now properly gets damage bonuses from mods and hero skills
• Overload Power Core now does massive impact
• Fixed the Diviner’s Thread hero weapon not being compatible with Entropy Mods
• Fixed a bug that means Oathbound Secret Tech hero vehicles would not be available to be bought after a reload
• Atomic Collapse can no longer affect enemy commanders

Autonom

• Nanite Repair Cloud is now once per battle (was 1 turn cooldown) and heals for 10hp in total (was 5hp per level of Networked)
• Networked level 3 no longer gives +1 range
• Killing a unit that is giving Networked to its allies now has a chance to stun or stagger those units as Networked is removed

Dvar

• Fixed the Hardiness Training skill so it always gives it's bonus (a bug meant it only gave the bonus to units in cover)
• Dvar Trencher now has 2 armor (was 3)
• Dvar Foreman now has 50hp (was 40). Hand Mortar now does 10 damage (was 8)

Synthesis

• Fixed an issue where Arc Weapon mods could affect the Amplify Daemon ability
• Avatar’s Disruption Virus no longer suffers long range penalties
• The Shakarn and Assembly hackers now have the Haywire Daemon ability

Shakarn

• Fixed Infiltrators still using Holoshift in autocombat when they shouldn’t
• Shakarn colonists working in Infiltrator slots from the “Holo-Simulation Camp” structures now give research and production instead of research and covert operation strength. That amount of production is in line with what other racial slots would give.
• Deadeye’s Omni-Penatrator now starts getting long range penalties at 7 hexes (was 5)
• Glaukos’ Flow ability now has a range of 7 (was 5)

Psifish

• Fixed the Siren’s impregnate not working on Heavy Infantry

Wildlife

• Savage Tyrannodon’s bite attack now has Massive Impact

Heritor

• Empowered Drained now gives Resurgence instead of a damage bonus
• Divine Legion now only gives +1 max essence charges (was 2)
• Es’Tec Gauntlet now gives 4 damage per charge (was 8). The ability now correctly counts the first charge, so the total damage done is the same for a 2 essence charge unit.
• Es’Tec Conduit now has a base damage of 10 (was 9) and gives 3 damage per charge (was 5)

Kir’ko

• The On Death explosion from Poison Excretion now only affects enemies

The Forgotten

• Shattered Arc
  • Now has 2 shields (was 1)
  • Corrupt Communion is now strength 12 to apply (was 8)
  • Essence Channeler no has a cap of 2 shields (was 3)
• Serpion now has 1 shield (was 0) and it’s main attack has a strength 8 chance to drain essence (was 4)

Assembly

• Swapped the positions of Advanced Bionics and Molecular Computing in the tech tree

Celestian

• Lightbringer’s Inferno Strike now counts as a Claw attack for modding purposes

Psynumbra

• Aria of Emptiness is now strength 6 (was 8)

Void Tech

• Phase Manipulators main attack now does 9 damage (was 11)
• Void Walkers now have 1 shield (was 2)
• Void Walkers now cost 70 energy, 250 production (was 90/270), except for the Oathbound, Dvar and Amazon ones

Xenoplague

• Plague Lord’s Super Infection is now on a 2 turn cooldown (was once per battle)

Hero Items

• Staff of Turmoil is now a tier 4 weapon

 

[fang]

When you say older races you think there are going to be new races?

 

[Ridixo]

Balance patch: Oathbound nerf

Not so sure if Oracle will approve of this

 

[Sartarius]

Autonoms were extremely powerfull compared to other factions especially is you have laser weapon tech. Maybe conside some siren nerf also?

 

[fodazd]

• Added an Undo Movement button into combat. This lets you undo the last unit move that you made, as long as the unit was not damaged en route, and no other unit abilities or operations have been triggered since.

This is a *huge* quality of life improvement. Finally I will not have to reload *every time* I mistakenly believe there would not be an obstacle in the way of my shot if I just move to this other position. Thank you!

 

[Ethorin]

how is Beacon of Hope going to "not stack with itself"? I'm curious.

 

[Broadside3]

I see a lot of good changes here!
While I am sad about the autonom changes, I understand them.

Also, sprouting infection still isn't able to apply to claw weapons and I think that is an oversight--i think it is one of the only bio mods that doesn't.

 

[Frostburn195]

I noticed one thing - the default setting for food is now "Share all and sell excess" - seems like an oversight to me. I don't think this should be the case - you really want to have your new colonies growing, and setting that manually seems tedious and unnecessary - and can be easy to forget.

 

[Demonic Spoon]

How do these beta patches work with existing PBEM games? Can I install the beta patch and continue playing them as long as other players also do?

 

[Ericridge]

Stop nerfing autonoms :S

They're one of my favorite npc factions. I don't understand why you nerfed nanite's repair clouds to once per battle when it was already nerfed to once per battle few patches ago? the reduction from 15 hp max healed to 10 hp healed is new though.

 

[Badok]

Stop nerfing autonoms :S

They're one of my favorite npc factions. I don't understand why you nerfed nanite's repair clouds to once per battle when it was already nerfed to once per battle few patches ago? the reduction from 15 hp max healed to 10 hp healed is new though.

They are, along with Therians, my favorite too - probably because they're so strong, so I perfectly agree with the nerfs

 

[Ericridge]

They are, along with Therians, my favorite too - probably because they're so strong, so I perfectly agree with the nerfs

How am I supposed to roleplay being skynet out to get all humans if I get nerfed too often?! I prefer paragon more but the autonoms is in comfortable second place for me. All other box factions don't offer to sell me tanks or makes them stronger so I don't care that much about them. XD Even the forgotten. I don't care about how op their t4 is. It doesn't make my laser tanks better.

 

[Xerberus]

Oathbound nerfs are too big, did anybody in the balanve team actually play them more than 5 min?

shield of honor and precognition stavks only meant not having half of units dead at first round. they dont get normal cover and are melee focused, those were the main things giving them a fighting chanve.

just mindlesd overnerfs.

 

[Triumph Jordi]

When you say older races you think there are going to be new races?

Older races as in not the shiny and new Oathbound.

Autonoms were extremely powerfull compared to other factions especially is you have laser weapon tech. Maybe conside some siren nerf also?

If you have any specific suggestions we are open to them.

How do these beta patches work with existing PBEM games? Can I install the beta patch and continue playing them as long as other players also do?

As long as all players are on the same version you'll be able to continue your Multiplayer games.

Oathbound nerfs are too big, did anybody in the balanve team actually play them more than 5 min?

We have a pretty large Balance team that originates from both the Multiplayer and Single player sides of our playerbase. The balance changes you see here are the result of a iterative process based on their experiences, our intentions for the Race/Faction and feasibility within the remaining time frame. If you have any specific counter suggestions we'd love to hear them.

 

[Sandman25DCSSS]

Please change default for food share back from "share all", it is annoying to change the setting in every new colony. Also someone reported it causes issues to AI which has lots of size 1 colonies.

 

[Triumph Jordi]

Open Beta Update - 25/11/20

Fixes
General

• Fixed a issue where every Relic appeared to unlock Grails
• Fixed a broken link in the Chaos Oracle Relic
• Fixed “Make your own luck” achievement not triggering.
• Fixed issue where invasion structures would spawn on lava and void sectors.
• Fixed issue where founding a colony on a forward base would not cause the race relation to gain the “Owns Colony” modifier.
• Fixed issue where setting up new found colonies would set the food sharing to share all
• Fixed Crash where the alliances would be modified the list of allies while it was processing the list
• Changed the Secondary Structure Pick List for the Spaceport from Government Palace to Spaceport
• Changed the linked icon for the Sun Shard on the Military Overview
• Fixed Oathbound Purifier Units being unable to equip Melee Mods

Updates
Galactic Empire

• Clicking on any added requisition item to remove it will now also make the related tab with available items selected on the left side of the screen.
• Planet Traits that involve NPC factions will now no longer allow playing on the small map size in order to prevent issues where too few dwellings would spawn the map.
• Racial Secret Tech unit variants are now available as Requisition options when playing that secret tech.
• Fixed certain Item and Vehicle Unlocks being unavailable if you are playing as the secret tech that unlocks them.
• All Hero Items unlocked via Progression are now 'free items' meaning they do not have to be chosen as Requisition items to be available in game.
• Summon units are now available as requisition items when playing their respective race as well since you cannot otherwise build these units.
• Fixed the Heritor 'High Lord' T4 unit being unlocked at level 10, fixed to the correct level 20.
• Added the Oathbound Battle Suit Hero Vehicles to the appropriate Unit Unlocks.
• Added Pestilence Hero Weapon to the Xenoplague Progression Level 5
• Added Acrimonious Hero Weapon to the Xenoplague Progression Level 10
• Added Malady Hero Weapon to the Xenoplague Progression Level 18
• Added Hasher SMG Hero Weapon to the Synthesis Progression Level 5
• Added Voidblades Hero Weapon to the Voidtech Progression Level 5
• Added Siphoner Staff Hero Weapon to the Heritor Progression Level 11
• Added Link Shard Hero Weapon to the Heritor Progression Level 17
• Added High Lord Vehicle Hero Weapon to the Heritor Progression Level 20
• Added Structural Integrity Diminisher Entropy Mod to the Oathbound Progression Level 20
• Added Dvar Phoenix Walker race variant to Promethean Progression Level 20
• Added Kir'ko Phoenix Walker race variant to Promethean Progression Level 20
• Lowered the spawn weight of non-xenoplague spawners while the Xenoplague Infestation trait is present
• Lowered the step count of 'Cleanse the Infestation' from 5 to 3 and increased the reward.
• 'Cleanse The Infestation' now also completes when clearing Livestock spawners (since these often also include Xenoplague units)

Oathbound

• Reverted Protector Armor to 5

Entropy Weapon Tech

• Maxwell's Puzzle Box now has a 2 turn cooldown (was 1) and has a strength 10 chance to proc Reality Break (was 12)

 

[Xerberus]

Older races as in not the shiny and new Oathbound.

If you have any specific suggestions we are open to them.

As long as all players are on the same version you'll be able to continue your Multiplayer games.

We have a pretty large Balance team that originates from both the Multiplayer and Single player sides of our playerbase. The balance changes you see here are the result of a iterative process based on their experiences, our intentions for the Race/Faction and feasibility within the remaining time frame. If you have any specific counter suggestions we'd love to hear them.

literally 90% of reddit posts find those too heavy handed. and those are the biggest nerfs you have ever done to a faction. nothing of this truckload of nerfs is "iterative" (hint: it doesnt mean all at once).

and to be honest, aow:sm was good because slightly unbalanced. the sheer symmetry in aow3 made it dull quite often. stop going that route again ... its bland and kills the fun. just because 10 mp hardcore basement dwellers have no life and find some cheese tactics doesnt mean the faction needs to be nerfed into uselesnesd. you dev on the release stream boasted about their strength and got his arse handed by the AI. i highly doubt they are broken to warrent a complete strip down.

they need those initial armor to survive first round, even with its not easy. AI uses AoE attacks quite well and oathbound battlesuits get no cover.

the dlc is already overpriced and you nerf the single interesting feature to the ground. great thinking.... NOT.

And when we are talking about change ... why not give heroes the option of t4 battlesuit. the single most disappointing aspect of planetfall is hero building. i said it at release ... the amount of skill and trait choices is less than half of aow3... they dont feel so unique compared to normal units. nothing done here. but hey ... why not nerf some more.

 

[Xerberus]

feasibility within the remaining time frame.

as i thought "just put on some nerfs ... better some more ... so we dont have to come back again". ... seriously? full price expansion and be asked to make iterative changes.

- oath of loyalty: its strong if you sourround a unit on all sides yes... but +2 is a joke. at least let it give up to +3 from neighbours. the armies aint that big anyway to make huge clusters ... which are just aoe targets anyway.

oracle favor doctrine: is vital for oathbound, dont touch this. they need it to not lose too mucv hp before being able to do anything.

but i understand having a unit with 3 precognition on easily is hard to counter.

i would limit stacking of precognition to a max of 2 ... maybe even making it a mid tier empire upgrade.

 

[Melikat]

Very glad to see the nerfs on Beacon of Hope and Providence. The Providence nerf sounds well done imo (I've yet to try the Open beta branch) because it maintains most of the benefit for melee units (naturally high accuracy) and negates how overpowered it was with ranged. Beacon of Hope was crazy strong with it being able to heal an entire stack for up to 60 hp per turn (more with multiple stacks). It's still a good mod and the change frees up a mod slot on some of your other units.

- oath of loyalty: its strong if you sourround a unit on all sides yes... but +2 is a joke. at least let it give up to +3 from neighbours. the armies aint that big anyway to make huge clusters ... which are just aoe targets anyway.

Don't forget the +1 armor that the mod naturally has. It does give up to 3 armor now which still makes it one of the better T1 mods available. Plus as you said you don't always have a cluster of units, this change maintains the armor gain in most situations.

oracle favor doctrine: is vital for oathbound, dont touch this. they need it to not lose too mucv hp before being able to do anything.

but i understand having a unit with 3 precognition on easily is hard to counter.

i would limit stacking of precognition to a max of 2 ... maybe even making it a mid tier empire upgrade.

Didn't precog stack to 2 initially? Either way I agree with Oracle's Favor (the Hero ability, Doctrine is 'Pre-Battle Predictions' or some such iirc). Oracle's Favor sounds substantially worse now. Oathbound Heroes still have great abilities but this was their only stack-leader ability and it's not as appealing now. On the other hand I suspect this was changed because Precog was lowered to 1 and it wouldn't stack with the aforementioned Doctrine anyway. This way it's still a useful pick (especially for the cheap cost compared to other comparable abilities) just not quite as good as it was.

 

[Ferrin33]

The Oath of Loyalty nerf isn't nearly as severe as people make it out to be, here's a visual in the attachments.

It's no different with 1 or 2 adjacent allies, and with a stack of 4 units grouped together it's 1 less armor for 2 of the 4 units. The fact it even gave +4 or even 5+ armor at bigger stack counts was ridiculous for a T1 mod, I'm glad it got nerfed.