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K_raider_NL

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Jun 26, 2020
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1
  • Magicka
  • Age of Wonders: Planetfall
  • Age of Wonders: Planetfall Deluxe edition
  • Age of Wonders: Planetfall - Revelations
Touchdown! The Commander Brenner of the Vangaurd has landed on Novicium-14 and must decide how to establish a base of operations. In this thread I will share my thoughts on how to get a solid economy running from scratch and use to build a powerful army.
This area has enough resources so I only need to decide what to focus on first. There is always a faction nearby to contact with one of the scouts (you may have one in the stack).
Send out the scouts to look around for areas of interest. You want to connect useful landmarks and cosmide nodes to your empire. The latter are usually 3-4 sectors away from your landing site so get those scouts moving!
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I really do want that Research Station to unlock useful mods and economic bonuses early. I'll need to decide weather to take it by force or do odd jobs for the spacers. There is synergy with their mods and Vanguard tech, but I do not like their T1 and T2 units at all. There are Autonom nearby too, which is rare. I'll go do quests for them instead. It's usually best to do quests to get influence to buy a settlement and compete for Empire Quests. Once you find another NPC faction, feel free to choose working for them instead if you prefer their mods, doctrines or units. You should not attempt to work for two factions at once until much later in the game. You will not unlock their second tier of technology if you cannot prove your loyalty to their cause.
I will get a quest from the Autonom, and head where-ever they point me, taking any loot close to my path. Those ruins my slow me down though, so I really need to watch how I spend movement points for grounded units in that terrain.
I also need to decide where to build an exploitation since my commander brought extra citizens to the planet. I'll take the sector with 1 lvl for food and a biodome. I need to keep growing my capital if I want to produce more exploitations, colonizers or extra troops faster. I'll build a central replicator factory first because I don't see myself building a production exploitation soon, and I will have enough food and research if my plan goes smoothly.
 
Remember to check the colonist tab on your cities every turn! You'll want to set them to produce food for now to get to 4 and 8 population faster. Unless you can get a produced item or research item 1 turn faster by having them produce another resource.
 
For context, this is a 5-player FFA on a medium+ map, using the PBEM balance mod.

Turn 1:
Meet Bug'dok the Swarmo, Herald of the Swarm and Nommer of Organics.
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The objective is to claim the planet for the swarm, eliminate all the Promethean threat - that we know for a fact is present - and prosper with every tentacled being that remains.

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The primitive natives discovered after Planetfall will do nicely as carriers of appendages. We're willing to put up with their irrational requests - for now - to gain their favor and make The Improvement of other local powers smoother.

First things first, though, we need to clear the ground from locals for immediate expansion. The Swarm must grow, after all. There are rivers and coasts around, we will want to use them for food. We will put out young Emergents on the frontlines (protected by the mature ones, of course), to have them morph faster. Our expeditionary forces lack a specialized healer, so we hope some of them shall become Transcendents soon.

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Since I rolled neat techs with the Research Pods starting bonus, I'm going to go for another roll with rushing the Technologist empire quest. Might get a useless mod, might get something gamebreaking. Will be done after my 3rd fight due to 1-cost psi operation, "Cleansing Pulse". Since I have a lot of food around my HQ and no need to research early mods, I'll go for Central Replicator Factory and early food districts to hasten the growth of this and future colonies.
 
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I have completed a quest on turn 2, that's quite good given the terrain. There is a spawner nearby, which may cause problem in the future if left unattended. The fight to destroy it could be risky, Vanguard units can be overwhelmed by melee units if their ranged firepower is not quite enough. More importantly, I want to clear out the marauders guarding a banner, resources and the biodome I will need. The terrain is very rough so I really don't want to move further away from my objectives.
I let an OWL help me out during the fight against the Xenoplague foes, but I would rather have it uncover more of the map on the following turns.
This already let me locate a Cosmite manipulation complex (+cosmite/+research income exploration site), which is not too far from a cosmite node that was uncovered when the Autonom shared the location of their Dwelling. That means I know where to obtain enough cosmite in the not so-distant-future and where to build my next colony. I forgot to contact the spacers and I can do a single quest from them without getting a penalty so I should do that eventually. WIth enough influence, I can buy the Settlement to make it my second colony.
As for research, I know I will need militia to protect myself from Spacers and roaming Marauders later so I need to unlock the ability to build military infrastructure. By getting my colonists to focus on research instead of food, I can save two turns worth of time in the tech tree. My commander has the 'stubborn' trait so I need to ensure I don't fall behind on research.
And finally, I need to keep scouting the area. I need to look for landmarks, Spacer bases and a good spot for a third colony.
 
Turn 2.
The Swarm has reconsidered Spacers' place in its grand plan.

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I decided to ignore the Spacer quest, which - while easy - would put my army in a place with pretty much nothing to do. Unfortunately I can't handle the quest battle with just scouts without damaging ops, so it will have to go to waste. The proximity of their base means that it is conquerable within the first ~10 turns of the game, which together with the settlement right next to the dwelling will be a great boon for future development.

Unfortunately there are few organic enemies on my path, so it's unlikely that I'll get any new Pustules anytime soon and will have to fight Spacers with what I have right now.

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1. Kir'ko settlement, will need to send a scout this way when I gather enough influence to buy it
2. Amazon settlement, will try to conquer it to be able to exploit Spacer base asap.
3. Spacer sector base, will conquer it in hope of gaining some rare items as a clear reward.
4. Broadcast station in a neighboring sector, a good place for my first Colonizer to settle.
5. Two food-rich sectors with Overgrown Biodomes, will use them to explode population in HQ and feed future colonies.
 
Turn 5:
The march on spacers continues. The Swarm took some exceedingly unfortunate losses conquering a Heavy Weapons Plant overran by Autonom. We lost a pustule prototype and a nearly morphed Emergent. The other Emergent grew, and claimed a psi-rifle to join the ranks of Hidden.

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Losing two units is going to hurt. Luckily I got some good rewards from the dungeon and the Technologist pioneer reward - a dvar Prospector which will neatly boost my economy (especially since HQ focuses on food production), a flying vehicle (dvar ramjet, which should work well for a xenoplague melee hero) and a T3 vehicle (vanguard walker). These vehicles will be immediately useful for optimizing movement and (when I reach level 6 and take Advanced Piloting skill) supplement some damage to my stack.

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My current army may have some difficulty taking on Spacer dwelling, so I'll take a detour and claim a cosmite node first. With better mods, spacers should be a piece of cake.
 
It is almost time to land the first strike on the Spacers. The Autonom want to me keep pushing north. As long as there is enough to do in the unexplored terrain, that should be fine. I can and should build a colonizer next turn, but I have not decided where to put it. Hopefully I can find a suitable spot north or west. My scouts are clearing away the fog of far so after completing the quest I will know what to do next. By joining up an OWL and an Autonom Sentinel I found in a container, I can escort the colonizer to a spot in the other direction if I really need to.
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News has reached me that a rival player has already cleared an exploration site. I am not yet ready to take on such a risk, but there are sites near my capital that would yield a considerable advantage if I clear them when those sectors are annexed. I need to focus on building and upgrading more powerful units after finishing a colonizer. Those units will need to be ready by the time I circle back to the capital, so that I have a stack strong enough to take the exploration sites and then march towards the Spacer Dwelling. I can accomplish this by focusing on growth first to reach 12 population while building a few Skirmisher units. I have enough food income and will soon have enough research to unlock economic and technological innovations to upgrade these sectors. I have not decided yet if I will need energy or production at that stage. My capital already has a central replicator for added production so I can still produce T2 units in 3 turns instead of 4.
 
Turn 7:
The blood has been shed, and Spacer fools now feed the swarm. We razed an outpost and intercepted a wandering squad - the deeds echo among our people and inspire a new banner of Frenzied to join our cause. We will have them speak of our glory to the guideless Kir'ko colony nearby.
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War with spacers has begun. I managed to score two combat victories over small stacks, which granted me "The Invader" pioneer reward. Nothing grand, just one unit of Frenzied, but I can use them to stroll by the settlement I need to annex peacefully. I hope I can soon find another NPC faction to cozy up to, I need to buy a unit or two.

Meanwhile, my colonizer has landed... And immediately attracted attention of a wandering stack of marauders. The colony garrison has no chance here, which means I'll have to prepare a small force to retake it soon.
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On the exploration front, I've made quite a useful discovery - a Xenoplague landmark not that far from my territory. Once I'm done with the Spacers I'll need to claim it asap, it will be very valuable for its doctrine unlock (faster Xenoplague research).

Economically I'm holding pretty well, my HQ is growing. Unfortunately I'm starting to feel the cost of my Technologist rush and am a tad low on energy - had to delay enacting Builder doctrine because of it. Will need to refocus my colony to energy and sell some combat rewards.
 
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I found three players and their relative positions. Two of them have already signed a non-agression pact, likely due to their proximity. But I have no time to worry about other players: I'm at war with the Spacers and I need another army. The sooner I can start multi-tasking, the better: There are colonizers that need to be escorted and spawners that need to be cleared to take advantage of the terrain I want to colonize. I can't expect a scout or two to fight of a pack of foes. I have plotted a course for my units: there are some targets nearby including more spacers, and an anomaly site. Producing units will be a bit slow until I can build a production exploitation. But I can purchase autonom units and a second hero should arrive soon. I'd better make sure to have enough energy in store for that! At least I have good food and research income so for the foreseeable future I can keep growing colonies and unlock useful technology. I hope I can earn energy by defeating marauders and spacers though...
 
It cost me all of my leftover energy, but a second stack is coming along nicely. I found some cosmite so I was able to apply some defensive Vanguard mods and Autonom laser tech to these units. Now they can cut down bigger units to ensure the safety of my coloniser. I'll have to decide later if I want to have two stacks with a similar power level or combine their strongest units to ensure victory over reinforced Spacer targets or squatters in Exploration Sites. Either way, getting both stacks work to do allows me to do two objectives at once. It looks like I will be a bit slow on the colony building, so I have to make sure to make up by looting everything in sight.
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A neighbouring player proposed a non-agression pact. A great opportunity to allow my forces to loot marauders and Spacers without agitating other player with their presence. I have plenty of things to do before worrying about other players.
 
Turn 10:
The great Spacer hunt continues and slowly but inevitably progresses to its bloody conclusion. The Swarm is set to strike Spacer-owned Cosmite Rift that will be used to fetch better equipment for our warriors. The troops are eager and well trained, morale soaring after the news that a new Champion of the Swarm has joined their ranks. The new Champion will lead the operation to liberate our colony taken hostage by local AI.

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The Swarm had made contact with two of the world's minor powers, both humans clad in metal. While it would be preferred to immediately break and rebuild them, it's more beneficial for us to keep nonhostile relations with them - at least in the early phase of our conquest.

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I'm making good progress towards conquering Spacer dwelling. My army's well leveled up and final mods are about to be researched (massive stagger and self-healing grenades will make my melee units much better) - will be equipped using Cosmite from the node due to be looted. A settlement was bought out this turn and its colonizer is en route to settle and prepare to integrate the dwelling.

In the meantime the conquered Amazon settlement has just grown into a colony. Having Amazons within my empire will be a great boon, as their technology is quite compatible with my setup and the early defensive mod is very powerful for its price.

I also managed to negotiate non-aggression with my nearest neighbor. It'll be easier to set up a sensible border without worrying about immediate aggression.

On the opposite front, my new hero will lead a stack to retake my first colony and continue clearing the area from goodies.

One thing I'm annoyed about is that the only other NPC faction I found is Autonom, which - being machines - doesn't mesh well with my organic-focused build. Eh, we'll keep searching. The map is sizeable, so there's a chance for a 3rd NPC faction.

The other is that there's very few organic enemies on my path, it's tough to find material to spawn new Pustules.
 
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I really am starting to feel the pressure from other players expanding their empire. I am about to found my second colony which puts me way behind in the economy game. However, new opportunities have presented themselves.
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By combining John's ability to attack twice per turn, the autonom's resilience and the range of the other units, I have quite a powerful fighting force. I just need to position units properly to minimize damage. By winning this battle I earned enough resources to instantly complete an Autonom quest. Next up is a stack of spacers that will earn me the Faction War quest reward.
I need to find more exploration sites and landmarks and place colonies near them to aquire more resources. Some extra units or weapons will secure more victories in the field. I have another decent stack as well. They should take on less ambitious mission but will still contribute to collecting resources and eliminating threats while John leads a force further away from my HQ. I did have to upgrade the militia at the HQ, even though HQ's have a bonus to militia strength. Marauders are growing bolder and my past missions led me away from a spawner not too far from the HQ.
 
Turn 13:
The triumphant chitters can be heard all over the globe today, for the Spacer fools have been conquered. Great Bug'dok has himself slain the mad prophet and claimed Spacer breeding grounds for the Swarm. It shall serve us well.

The opposite side of the empire raises its own cries of glory, as brave Karaka Kra'Tsch liberates our colony.

And while our vicious warriors claim more ground for new Hives, the capitol's grand plantations are nearing completion, promising great growth and prosperity.

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The initial push took a bit longer than intended, but a solid amount of ground has been secured and new colonies can expand unto cleared ground, ripe with cosmite and influence. My main army is fairly formidable for now and doesn't require any further cosmite investment - save maybe for spawned Pustules (finally!), as it's cheaper to fit them out before they evolve into Destroyers and further - so I can focus on my second army's equipment. My current cosmite income is pitiful, but it'll grow substantially when I annex cleared sectors.

After I finish topping off my second stack, I'll focus on procuring enough energy and cosmite for 2-3 more Colonizers. My double-food HQ will ensure that each colony quickly grows to at least 8 pop.

I've managed to score friendly relations with Autonom without actually doing a quest for them - I've received relations improvement while battling Spacers - but I'm not yet certain whether I should commit to this NPC faction. I could certainly buy a few units to reinforce my army, but my Kir'ko/Xenoplague combo limits mechanical units (which all Autonom are) to a strictly support role. I suppose I'll wait and see if I can find another faction to cozy up to. I'll produce a few more scouts to hasten the process.

The current plan is to keep clearing resource nodes around my land, and secure a few more colonies. The second, hero-led army will head more or less towards the Xenoplague silver landmark. I also need to send heroes over to anomalies within my reach, I need the research boost - and the random rewards tend to be quite useful.

On the diplomatic layer, I've secured a defensive pact with a neighboring (by a comfortably large swathe of no-mans land) player. I tend to treat these pacts pretty seriously, we'll see if that's mutual. In the meantime I prevented my nearest neighbor - and co-poster - from invading on my private Spacer menagerie, hope they respect the NAP and not hold that against me.
 
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I got into a tough fight, and losing would mean I strand myself without a good way to catch up. Let us see who is the real heir to Empire battle tactics:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2859622970
Those walkers are no joke, so taking cover is a must, even for a melee enemy. A good shot from a purifier was enough to start eating away their health. By carefulle moving my units into position where they can then reach good firing position, I can focus on units to take them off the board one by one. By using John or an OWLs secondary ability, i can make an enemy much easier to hit, thereby ensuring ranged units can keep their distance. Setting units on fire also helps.
By moving the melee unit back instead of forward, I was able to prevent the Soldier and Guard from hitting the flanks too hard.
In summary: Playing Vangaurd means finding the best way to deal damage from long range, which almost always involves finding good cover while removing the enemies ability to use theirs.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2859623067
By selling the reward for a total of 230 energy, I was able to solve my energy crisis. The barracks and a new colony will also generate enough per turn to start saving up or use operations during battle. But it looks like I am behind on development compared to other players, so I will have to spend it on a colonizer soon.
I can use influence to buy more autonom units, however. These can quickly move to reïnforce the main stack should I lose some units in the Silver Landmark. That way, losing some units won't be nearly as much of a setback.
If all goes well I can build 2 exploitations soon to generate energy and use that to produce more units. That way, I can still reach the turning point of steadily producing T2 units just after turn 20, which is where the real game begins.