Hi everyone and welcome to this week’s dev diary! I am Jakob aka Eomolch and working (mainly) as a campaign/narrative designer at Triumph Studios.
Today is truly a special day as you will finally get your hands on the third expansion for Planetfall: Star Kings! We would like to take the opportunity to thank all of you for your tremendous support and help in creating a fantastic experience that we call Planetfall.
Thank you!
In this dev diary I will be writing about something campaign-unrelated for once and shed some light on the new economy-related content, which we are releasing as part of the free Triceratops patch that drops alongside our Star Kings expansion.
When we set out to expand the economic gameplay, we had a number of high-level goals in mind, which were derived from our own observations and filtered feedback from the community:
But now, without further ado, let’s take a look at the concrete mechanics and content:
Residential Exploitation
We’ve added a new sector exploitation type, which focuses on the population of a colony. Not only does it increase the yield of each colonist slot, but it also enables a colony to annex more than 4 sectors and grow bigger and better than ever before.
The fair colony of Avalmill stretches from the southern seas all the way to the desert in the north.
Thanks to the new sector unlocks and the option to annex sectors further away from the colony core, the Residential Exploitation drastically changes the way that colony planning is approached.
Urban Overlay
Alongside the Residential Exploitation comes a new terrain type, exclusive to the Residential Sectors. Where previously ruins of the old Star Union marked the landscape, the player can now spread the architecture of his empire’s races, where Urban houses fill a sector:
Colony District Buildings
Alongside the Residential Exploitation, we are introducing new Colony District Buildings, which can be leveled up twice and are entirely different for each race:
Let’s take a look at the Syndicate Ambassadors’ Quarters as an example:
The special Syndicate colonist slot is called an Ambassador Slot and generates influence at the expense of energy when filled by a colonist. Syndicate players who want to focus on diplomacy and NPC Factions can sacrifice some of their economic potential to gain an edge in the diplomacy game, with up to 12 additional influence per turn coming from the 6 filled in Ambassador Slots.
When upgraded to “Immaculate” an entirely new dynamic comes into play, when an action outside the colony, namely the player using influence in a diplomatic PvP interaction, causes the colony to gain happiness. This way the upgrade rewards the player for a diplomacy-oriented playstyle as it often fits the Syndicate – Denouncing that snobby House Leader at the neighboring continent has never been more rewarding!
You want to find out the unique slots and gimmicks of all the other race’s Colony District Buildings? No problem, by the time this dev diary is out the Triceratops patch with the Residential Exploitation and all other features mentioned here has already been released. Just launch the game and check it out in the next play through of your favorite race!
Today is truly a special day as you will finally get your hands on the third expansion for Planetfall: Star Kings! We would like to take the opportunity to thank all of you for your tremendous support and help in creating a fantastic experience that we call Planetfall.
Thank you!
In this dev diary I will be writing about something campaign-unrelated for once and shed some light on the new economy-related content, which we are releasing as part of the free Triceratops patch that drops alongside our Star Kings expansion.
When we set out to expand the economic gameplay, we had a number of high-level goals in mind, which were derived from our own observations and filtered feedback from the community:
- Diversify the economic gameplay for different factions.
- Make “going tall” a more viable (and interesting) option.
- Allow players to build up an empire which is visually no longer dominated by the ruins of the past, but by their own racial colonies and architecture.
But now, without further ado, let’s take a look at the concrete mechanics and content:Residential Exploitation
We’ve added a new sector exploitation type, which focuses on the population of a colony. Not only does it increase the yield of each colonist slot, but it also enables a colony to annex more than 4 sectors and grow bigger and better than ever before.
- Residential Exploitations are unlocked from the start of the game.
- A colony can have a max. of 2 Residential Exploitations attached to it.
- While having 1 Residential Exploitation, the 5th sector to annex unlocks at 20 population.
- While having 2 Residential Exploitations, the 6th sector to annex unlocks at 24 population.
- A colony can claim a sector further than 2 sectors away, as long as that sector is adjacent to a Residential Sector. When lining up residential sectors next to each other, this pushes the maximum potential sector distance of a colony to 4!
- A Residential Exploitation can be leveled up twice. It generates +1/+2/+3 income for each colonist working in an energy, production, research, food or happiness slot, depending on its level.
- The first +1 level building is unlocked by the new Residential Development tier IV economy research.
- The second +1 level building is unlocked by the existing Virtual Hospitality Systems tier VII economy research.
The fair colony of Avalmill stretches from the southern seas all the way to the desert in the north.
Thanks to the new sector unlocks and the option to annex sectors further away from the colony core, the Residential Exploitation drastically changes the way that colony planning is approached.
- Do I leave more space in between my early colonies? Or do I claim those precious resource nodes and landmarks now instead of waiting for my HQ to grow its last sector?
- Do I try to keep my territory compact and sacrifice later economic potential? Or do I spread out to drop my claim on all the sectors that can one day become annexed to my empire, accepting the risk of them potentially getting annexed by my competitors before that happens?
Urban Overlay
Alongside the Residential Exploitation comes a new terrain type, exclusive to the Residential Sectors. Where previously ruins of the old Star Union marked the landscape, the player can now spread the architecture of his empire’s races, where Urban houses fill a sector:
- Building a Residential Exploitation terraforms the sector’s primary terrain type into Urban.
- Units within a friendly urban sector regenerate an extra 6 hit points between strategic turns.
- When razed, an urban sector turns into Ruins again, another testament to the rise and fall of overly ambitious empires
- Amazons build their houses in an eco-friendly way, so their urban tiles count as Forests.
Colony District Buildings
Alongside the Residential Exploitation, we are introducing new Colony District Buildings, which can be leveled up twice and are entirely different for each race:
- All Colony District Buildings are unlocked by the new Residential Development tier IV society research. If you control colonies of different races, each colony can produce the District Building matching its race regardless of whether or not it was your starting race.
- Colony District Buildings unlock racial colonist slots, which yield higher and more unique resource combinations matching that building’s and race’s flavor.
- A Colony District Building can be upgraded twice to reach its full potential:
- The (Basic) version can be built in any colony of the matching race. It unlocks two racial slots.
- The (Fine) version can be built in a colony with at least 1 Residential Exploitation. It unlocks another two racial slots and increases the yield of those slots.
- The (Immaculate) version can be built in a colony with at least 2 Residential Exploitations. It unlocks another two racial slots and comes with a unique repeatable reward that can be earned in the colony if the player performs actions matching the race’s playstyle or strengths.
Let’s take a look at the Syndicate Ambassadors’ Quarters as an example:
The special Syndicate colonist slot is called an Ambassador Slot and generates influence at the expense of energy when filled by a colonist. Syndicate players who want to focus on diplomacy and NPC Factions can sacrifice some of their economic potential to gain an edge in the diplomacy game, with up to 12 additional influence per turn coming from the 6 filled in Ambassador Slots.
When upgraded to “Immaculate” an entirely new dynamic comes into play, when an action outside the colony, namely the player using influence in a diplomatic PvP interaction, causes the colony to gain happiness. This way the upgrade rewards the player for a diplomacy-oriented playstyle as it often fits the Syndicate – Denouncing that snobby House Leader at the neighboring continent has never been more rewarding!
You want to find out the unique slots and gimmicks of all the other race’s Colony District Buildings? No problem, by the time this dev diary is out the Triceratops patch with the Residential Exploitation and all other features mentioned here has already been released. Just launch the game and check it out in the next play through of your favorite race!
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