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It's good to see Triumph doing his part to help people with disabilities.

Mmm, actually Blaeys mentiones Planetfall is lacking in this depeartment so here's hoping devs will take notice and have resources to implement such features...

Everyone, this thread made me happy everyday.
I hope to remain hyped the coming weeks. So I ask: will we get another post by Triumph on tuesday, October 20th, with dev diary? What do you think?

I belive devs mentioned somewhere that they will release the Galactic Empires dev diary shortly so you can expect it next week I think...
 
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I really don't get it. There's tons of games out there with all sorts of aliens; green aliens with tentacles, purple aliens with slightly longer tentacles, black aliens with only one tentacle (wooo, exotic). Comes along a company that takes a different approach (while still including plenty of alien creatures) with a vast transhumanism theme, nostalgic references abound and a genuinely original setting in which all the different factions have their own very distinctive playstyles with a wealth of versatility that is, frankly, unimaginable. And so many people go: "No aliens ... boring"

I'd take original over alien anyday.
 
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I really don't get it. There's tons of games out there with all sorts of aliens; green aliens with tentacles, purple aliens with slightly longer tentacles, black aliens with only one tentacle (wooo, exotic). Comes along a company that takes a different approach (while still including plenty of alien creatures) with a vast transhumanism theme, nostalgic references abound and a genuinely original setting in which all the different factions have their own very distinctive playstyles with a wealth of versatility that is, frankly, unimaginable. And so many people go: "No aliens ... boring"

I'd take original over alien anyday.

Well, I also like me some alien factions, the stranger the better, but I'm still content with each vision the devs present us in Planetfall. Oathbound might not be the most interesting faction for me but it has potential, plus we still didn't see the full roster. Maybe there are some really unique and interesting units still to come?

Triumph is balancing things. We have "evil" factions, we have benevolent (-ish?) factions. Ofc it's not all black and white, but for me it felt like last two "factions" were pretty on the "evil" side. Cult of leeches/vampires followed by hostile lizardfolk that are bent on destroying post-Star Union. Imo the natural order was that we will get a "good" faction, cus we actually didn't see anything like that since Celestian I belive. Well, there is a difference between "factions" and "secret tech" but I think you know what I mean. Actually, Oathbound seem to actually be the first "good" faction in the game or at least one that is particulary interested in rebuilding Star Union, not to persue their own agendas or grudges. Maybe a good idea to kinda close the "cycle", if this is really the last dlc we will see?

And when it comes to "alien" factions, I think we got plenty with Shakarn. They are as alien as it can possibly be. And let's not forget Voidwalkers who are also a kind of faction in itself.

You cannot satisfy all people. People are allowed to have their own opinions and requests, but saying boring and a letdown... to each his own I guess.
 
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I mean, I can understand why people are upset. Kind of. I mean, this is a sci-fi/science fantasy strategy game, so it would stand to reason we get a number of aliens. We are all human, so a bunch of human (or humanoid) factions is gonna look boring at first glance.

I, myself, am intrigued by the Oathbound. I want to know more about them. Just need to figure out if I am going to change my rule of not overlapping secret techs for custom commanders/factions, or if I am going to replace a faction with the Oathbound.
 
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I prefer the factions that are more "good in their own interest", selfishly good, and can be seen as a villain to someone with equal intentions but clashes with theirs, which I'd say most factions are but are also open for different sides. That said it's hard to really say whether Oathbound are meant to be inherently good or blinded and ignorant in their vision, seeing as recreating the Star Union maaaay not be the most noblest of pursuits nor forcing everyone under a single banner again when coexistence may be the better option.

But that's entirely up to your own interpretation and how you did the campaign, as there's little context to what's actually the right path to take. I do get a feeling though that Oathbound are meant to have good intentions but that those intentions could be viewed as authoritarian dictatorial rule and that they may not accept anyone wishing to remain independent, branding those factions as renegades and rebels of the Star Union. Not all Oathbound probably, but some in power. It'd atleast open up more sides to it if their noble-bright exterior hides something potentially darker or less black and white, such as their view of their cause being noble and good may actually be more villainous for others.

As for Oathbound's aesthetics, so far I got mixed feelings and it's not that they're humans. There's shots of what your commander can look like and their customization is interesting. There's also the big mech unit that looks badass and the paladin champion as well as seer looks quite good. But then there's shots of what I'd assume is the core unit with the big axe-polearm which their suit looks very... eggishly bland and their weapon simply resemble a big paddle. There's also another mech (tier 2?) in some shots that's smaller with shield and sword, with the shield and sword having rather... odd shapes to them, don't know what to feel about it.

It's like they're meant to look very stylishly futuristic and different from the other human factions but kinda ends up looking all over the place. Amazons looks fairly futuristic and stylish, but there's still a feeling of functionality, a continuous theme. Oathbound look all stylish but no functionality, the theme being to kinda not look that way to convey they are "beyond it", but to me their armor and weapons sorta look more fake and plastic. I hope my initial feel for the little we can see of them so far is wrong and I warm up to them, as I am very, very interested in their playstyle.
 
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I agree with you man. The Archons, reimagined as starry eyed optimists going ham for all mankind in giant robots. I did not see it coming.

As for the nostalgia, the Smoky Haze poisoned and gave a malus to hit. The ultimate trololo 'ya missed' unit, and I think the one you mean, was the Leprechaun.
Cast Blur, Death Touch and Regeneration on one. Charge a stack of Orc Warlords.
Watch these mighty warriors be trolled by a nigh unhittable nightmarish, teleporting Imp. Shadow Magic was awesome

Probably right, i forgot what really happened, but it's against halfling.

As for Oathbound's aesthetics, so far I got mixed feelings and it's not that they're humans. There's shots of what your commander can look like and their customization is interesting. There's also the big mech unit that looks badass and the paladin champion as well as seer looks quite good. But then there's shots of what I'd assume is the core unit with the big axe-polearm which their suit looks very... eggishly bland and their weapon simply resemble a big paddle. There's also another mech (tier 2?) in some shots that's smaller with shield and sword, with the shield and sword having rather... odd shapes to them, don't know what to feel about it.

It's like they're meant to look very stylishly futuristic and different from the other human factions but kinda ends up looking all over the place. Amazons looks fairly futuristic and stylish, but there's still a feeling of functionality, a continuous theme. Oathbound look all stylish but no functionality, the theme being to kinda not look that way to convey they are "beyond it", but to me their armor and weapons sorta look more fake and plastic. I hope my initial feel for the little we can see of them so far is wrong and I warm up to them, as I am very, very interested in their playstyle.

Their aesthetic is meant to give them asymmetrical holy or divine looks. It's quite the trend this day, especially regarding races that are alien (they have alien logic, etc etc). The oathbound aesthetic is probably favoring more non euclid geometry (asymmetrical cyclical things) if i remember correctly.

It is to give a vibe of otherworldly, a lot of their units also have halo (yes in asymmetrical cyclical too), this combined with the former is to give them otherworldly divine or holy beings from other places never before seen by current factions so far, and they are here to save everyone, that's the vibe that the designer wants to express, i'm certain i'm 90% correct in this case.

Aesthetics like that is becoming common today, look at eldar from WH40k (for asymmetrical cyclinc), the advent from Sins of Solar Empire (divine or holy), protoss from Starcraft 2 (highly advanced tech beyond any or most factions there), i believe oathbound's units are a mix of them. And in regards of what the units model designer, they success in conveying that.

Design like space marine from WH40k or terran from starcraft is getting too outdated where i'm from, they are too classic that no one are interested in such design anymore in my place
 
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As to Aliens. I don't agree with the sentiment that planetfall lacks them. The Kir'ko and Shakarn are classic 'aliens' in the sense that they are not human. The other factions and techs explore various transhumanist and scifi tropes,as said above.
The wildlife holds the more alien (in the sense of strange/non humanoid) lifeforms. The Growth are sentient plants with an actual religion, the sentient AI of the Autonom, the RPR droids, various forms of critters, etc.

Adding truly alien races might be technically difficult.
I recall the hero/mod system being technically limited to humanoid models, which might be a technical reason to keep it generally humanshaped.

The transhumanist elements intrigue me, it is a particular type of scifi, which asks how far we can go and still be 'human' (tears in rain, time to die).

I'm not sure if there will be another season of DLC, but aliens might be something that you could easily build a season or dlc around. The metastory seems to be moving on after the Star Kings. Perhaps the newly formed star nations start exploring again, travelling outward, beyond the rim of known space?
 
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Their aesthetic is meant to give them asymmetrical holy or divine looks. It's quite the trend this day, especially regarding races that are alien (they have alien logic, etc etc). The oathbound aesthetic is probably favoring more non euclid geometry (asymmetrical cyclical things) if i remember correctly.

It is to give a vibe of otherworldly, a lot of their units also have halo (yes in asymmetrical cyclical too), this combined with the former is to give them otherworldly divine or holy beings from other places never before seen by current factions so far, and they are here to save everyone, that's the vibe that the designer wants to express, i'm certain i'm 90% correct in this case.

Aesthetics like that is becoming common today, look at eldar from WH40k (for asymmetrical cyclinc), the advent from Sins of Solar Empire (divine or holy), protoss from Starcraft 2 (highly advanced tech beyond any or most factions there), i believe oathbound's units are a mix of them. And in regards of what the units model designer, they success in conveying that.

Design like space marine from WH40k or terran from starcraft is getting too outdated where i'm from, they are too classic that no one are interested in such design anymore in my place

Oh yeah, you're definitely right in that regard, I got that feeling out of the units as well. They do feel rather otherworldly and it's sorta meant to make them seem like these angelic saviors. Still not too fond from what I've seen of the two units I mentioned, I feel they could've still been that but made better, the rest has the same aesthetic but nails it, whilst the other two leans more on the otherworldly side of kinda looking silly. But as said, the shots of them are very hard to get a good look.

That said it's not that I'm opposed to such designs, imo I find Space Marines and Terrans rather bland and always have, although I'm kinda fond of the newer SM models like Primaris that gives more depth to their aesthetic. But I've always loved say Tau by aesthetics, I find most of their design quite functional and down to earth (even if I've heard people say they look out of place and anime) whilst still unique, futuristic and alien, and their mechs as well, whilst I've not been too fond of Eldar's aesthetics even if they make sense and nail the otherworldly/alien side.

Maybe it's the more rounded and oval shapes with simplified looks which I dislike in futuristic designs, as opposed to ones with more edges and depth to it, or layers within say armor where you can distinguish parts and layers of it where it feels functional and not just to look otherworldly for the sake of it. Though perhaps I'd be more open for it if Oathbound or say Eldar actually were more alien and not humans/elves, as I do like Protoss' design, so maybe I might have a problem they aren't aliens afterall!
 
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Oh yeah, you're definitely right in that regard, I got that feeling out of the units as well. They do feel rather otherworldly and it's sorta meant to make them seem like these angelic saviors. Still not too fond from what I've seen of the two units I mentioned, I feel they could've still been that but made better, the rest has the same aesthetic but nails it, whilst the other two leans more on the otherworldly side of kinda looking silly. But as said, the shots of them are very hard to get a good look.

That said it's not that I'm opposed to such designs, imo I find Space Marines and Terrans rather bland and always have, although I'm kinda fond of the newer SM models like Primaris that gives more depth to their aesthetic. But I've always loved say Tau by aesthetics, I find most of their design quite functional and down to earth (even if I've heard people say they look out of place and anime) whilst still unique, futuristic and alien, and their mechs as well, whilst I've not been too fond of Eldar's aesthetics even if they make sense and nail the otherworldly/alien side.

Maybe it's the more rounded and oval shapes with simplified looks which I dislike in futuristic designs, as opposed to ones with more edges and depth to it, or layers within say armor where you can distinguish parts and layers of it where it feels functional and not just to look otherworldly for the sake of it. Though perhaps I'd be more open for it if Oathbound or say Eldar actually were more alien and not humans/elves, as I do like Protoss' design, so maybe I might have a problem they aren't aliens afterall!

I agree. This is an interesting topic to talk about. From what i know, today oval and round forms seems more associated with ancient elder races things today than alien things, elder race first then alien, i mean because the elder races are often too alien in everything to younger race. The oathbound is probably not elder race (at least that is my impression of them), my guess is they are the remnants of star union who band together to realize their ideals (which seemingly the nobler part of the star union's). Or they are what the star union used to be in their prime or golden age, probably from the lost age of myths of planetfall universe?, if yes then they are sort of elder race, age of wonders game theme often concern the bygone age of myths where everything is better than the current age or era (which in the series such ages are what is actually called age of wonders), so there's this probability that the oathbound is the precursor of star union, or at least goes back to the line of those that are considered ancestors by current star union's citizens, at least having access to ancient lost knowledge (the grail configuration seems to be a hint to this, another hint, they have knowledge of entropy techs, meaning they remember the time of heritor dynasties) from the age where everything is better than the current age even if their knowledge is indirect or already fabricated. This in my opinion qualify the oathbound as elder race or precursor or close to it. If yes then the non euclid design fit well with their theme.

But of course everyone have the right to have their own preferences. Most people i guess like gundams, because they associate the oathbound's mechs with them (i used to like them too), but the gundam theme only fit half part of the oathbound theme, that is advanced tech, but no gundam can ever convey otherworldly and divine theme, because well gundam is like a mundane tech, while elder races things are often arcane tech, personally i really like the oathbound's design, especially the higher tier units, honestly i'm very surprised that dev team choose that forms of design, considering what the vanguard or to higher exted paragon NPC looks like.
 
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I like how everyone compares Oathbound to Gundams, whereas I see them more like T'au Empire from W40k. A race that fights for "the greater good" (although they're a bit "pushy" about it) and their warfare is largely based on Battlesuits and some allied xeno races...

I can see that. There are a number of similarities between the two, those being the big ones. I do not know enough about them to look for all the similarities, but there are enough to make the comparison make sense.

I know it does not matter, but how would one explain Covert Ops with these guys? Diplomat and Merchant Scion are a bit of a stretch, but explainable, and the military background perks along with star union scholar work logically to me.
 
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I know it does not matter, but how would one explain Covert Ops with these guys? Diplomat and Merchant Scion are a bit of a stretch, but explainable, and the military background perks along with star union scholar work logically to me.

I think that's were the "Seer" faction comes in, cus I belive there are a kind of "allies" to Oathbound, meaning the faction does not consist of only one party. You can even see in the "Watcher" unit description references to espionage. So I think they will be "the spies" and "schemers" of the faction. I also see a potential for some dark dealings here, becasue I highly doubt Oathbound campaign being only about "goody-two-shoes" saving the galaxy. I can bet there will be some "cracks in the glass" and "work-behind-the-scenes" motives. Or maybe there will be this "Holy Crusade" aspect, where Oathbound turn into this inquisitor and "burn the heretic" mindset...
 
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I like how everyone compares Oathbound to Gundams, whereas I see them more like T'au Empire from W40k. A race that fights for "the greater good" (although they're a bit "pushy" about it) and their warfare is largely based on Battlesuits and some allied xeno races...

It's just in case of design or model, they are quite spot on if they compare the oathbound's design with gundam, but again, other mech design are significantly less familiar than gundam to most people, so there's this factor too i guess.

Motive wise, yes the oathbound has some similarity with the T'au.

Though in terms of design they are no where near T'au or gundam, but more of following the current trend (particularly in western) when it concerns divine futuristic theme, stellaris also follows this, in case of the awakened empire's models, though awakened empire tech still seems mundane tech in comparison to the oathbound (but of course planetfall is not sci fi anymore but more of sci fi fantasy (closest to this is probably WH40k), but design wise, the oathbound is far closer to a combination of eldar, protoss, and the advent (especially their eradica Titan class ship if anyone ever see this, they will easily notice the similarities in appearance) than T'au or gundam.

I think that's were the "Seer" faction comes in, cus I belive there are a kind of "allies" to Oathbound, meaning the faction does not consist of only one party. You can even see in the "Watcher" unit description references to espionage. So I think they will be "the spies" and "schemers" of the faction. I also see a potential for some dark dealings here, becasue I highly doubt Oathbound campaign being only about "goody-two-shoes" saving the galaxy. I can bet there will be some "cracks in the glass" and "work-behind-the-scenes" motives. Or maybe there will be this "Holy Crusade" aspect, where Oathbound turn into this inquisitor and "burn the heretic" mindset...

They are clearly the planetfall equivalent of archon. I bet they too will succumb to blind zealotry like the archon was. But the oathbound seems less pure, less noble, so they corruption is probably going to be many. Actually, some of them are already corrupted, the corrupted oathbound i mean. This oathbound can probably be the new NPC faction, sort of like heritor and forgotten, but this time oathbound and their corrupted brethren. I really hope the corrupted titan is recruitable, i like this one better than the oathbound version.

If we look at the bigger context, the theme of this expansion in regards of duality seems to be order vs chaos. Order can be dark or evil. The theme of light vs darkness is of course celestian vs psynumbra, this can also be considered good vs evil in some extend. So the oathbound probably care more about bringing order than being good or light, even though if they have to achieve that through evil or darker means.
 
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Honestly even though lorewise they both fight for a 'greater good' and the Seers might have a few skeletons in their closet like the Ethereal Caste, I would hardly consider the Oathbound to be similar or analogous to the Tau, this is because of the prevalence of powerful melee bruisers (that aren't 'vassals' or auxiliary units) in their mainline roster from what we've seen so far.

The closest you'll get to a true Tau analogue in Planetfall is to play Celestian Vanguard without producing Lightbringers or any strong melee units, except maybe the occasional use of Vespid Kir'ko and Kroot Amazon dinos from absorbed colonies.
 
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If you want a true Tau analogue in Planetfall, play Celestian Vanguard without building Lightbringers or any strong melee units, except maybe the occasional use of Vespid Kir'ko and Kroot dinos from absorbed colonies.

Actually I had two ideas that bring them close: using battlesuits as means of fighting and "The Greater Good" philosophy. It doesn't matter if a faction is melee or ranged oriented. It's just a flavor. All this while I can't quite find any analogy to Gundams, aside from design (which is also a bit controversial as many Gundams actually use more contrasting color palettes, they are even entirely green or purple ones, depends on the setting and the designers imagination). There's not even something like "Gundam" similarities plotwise, as Gundams are something that glue together a franchise that consist of sometimes altogether different settings that have nothing in common outside of those giant robots themselves. We had plots about intergalactic conflicts (the original Mobile Gundam Suit series, Gundam SEED or Gundam Wing), adolscent mercenary groups fighting for freedom and their own place to live (Iron-Blooded Orphans), or "Pokemon" like "collect and battle" anime for teenagers (Gundam Build Fighters)...

So T'au comparisons, if any, are much more in place here.

Actually the whole "Gundam" comparison came from teh fct that both are "big robots". T'au also have big robots like this: (link cus art piece is big)
 
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The similarities can be split into some aspects. In case of ideology or method, they are similar to T'au, but what they want to achieve is actually similar to eldar or protoss, the oathbound wants to re-establish the star union, ok in case of eldar not all of craftworlds want that but 2 of the most prominent one wants that. In this regard, the oathbound are quite different from their fantasy counterpart, the archon wants to seeds life anywhere in the cosmos.

In case of oathbound's unit model, if one is not familiar with WH40k, starcraft or sins of solar empire, then gundam bear the closest resemblance.

In my opinion, in regard of the oathbound, triumph studio manage to do fantastic job at combining all that aspects, and still manage to relate it with their fantasy counterpart. Personally i consider all that is more than enough to compensate the fact that the oathbound is not an alien.
 
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Personally i consider all that is more than enough to compensate the fact that the oathbound is not an alien.

As people already discussed here, this isn't even an issue to begin with. A well designed faction will defend itself, be it human, transhuman, or cosmic goo. It was mentioned time and time again the gist of what different factions in Planetfall represent is various evolution (or de-evolution) of humanity + experiments gone wrong + isolation. This is a good base to build the lore going forward. Humanity might as well have wiped out all but the most distant alien civilizations, we don't know that. The only way to incorporate something alien is either through "beings from another dimension" (Voidbringers) or "invasion outside the galaxy" (Shakarn). And that's that.
 
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I think that's were the "Seer" faction comes in, cus I belive there are a kind of "allies" to Oathbound, meaning the faction does not consist of only one party. You can even see in the "Watcher" unit description references to espionage. So I think they will be "the spies" and "schemers" of the faction. I also see a potential for some dark dealings here, becasue I highly doubt Oathbound campaign being only about "goody-two-shoes" saving the galaxy. I can bet there will be some "cracks in the glass" and "work-behind-the-scenes" motives. Or maybe there will be this "Holy Crusade" aspect, where Oathbound turn into this inquisitor and "burn the heretic" mindset...

Perhaps, but I just took a look at the default commanders/armies for the factions. Most common background perk for each faction is as follows:
  • Amazon: Tied between Star Union Scholar, Veteran and Martial Tradition at two each
  • Assembly: Star Union Scholar at four
  • Dvar: Star Union Scholar (again) at four
  • Kir'Ko: Martial Tradition at four
  • Shakarn: Covert Operative at three
  • Syndicate: The big surprise with Merchant Scion and veteran at three each
  • Vanguard: Covert Operative at four
Not sure if it means anything, but I think given what we know about the factions, it is safe to say that the most common background for the Oathbound will either veteran or Martial Tradition.
 
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As people already discussed here, this isn't even an issue to begin with. A well designed faction will defend itself, be it human, transhuman, or cosmic goo. It was mentioned time and time again the gist of what different factions in Planetfall represent is various evolution (or de-evolution) of humanity + experiments gone wrong + isolation. This is a good base to build the lore going forward. Humanity might as well have wiped out all but the most distant alien civilizations, we don't know that. The only way to incorporate something alien is either through "beings from another dimension" (Voidbringers) or "invasion outside the galaxy" (Shakarn). And that's that.

I would disagree on the last part. Star Union seems to been big and vast enough that there could be more alien civilizations in similar shoe as Kir'ko, heck it'd even be an interesting twist if there was an alien civilization integrated into the Star Union, being more accepted into it as opposed to Kir'ko due to the initial contact and hivemind nature, one that may have fit the ideals of the union or been uplifted/brainwashed into it from being more primitive.

That said I agree with the rest in terms of whether Oathbound should've been alien or not, I don't mind it either way, I mean sure they could've been interesting as alien, but there's a lot more details to a faction rather than whether it's blue or red, and that the theme so far has been all forms of humans in different stages since the focus is the aftermath of a galactic empire that spanned thousands of worlds which is said to each adopted their own culture.

So the majority being all kinds of human factions just adds to the idea of vast it was with all kind of humans. It's likely that there's a ton of more factions Triumph could've added, both human and alien, but we just don't see them. Some that may not have grown into such powerful factions to conquer worlds or inhabit several of them, or simply weren't added for this game but could be in a sequel.
 
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