The lack of descriptions for spells/units, etc.

[Arilou]

I am liking most of what I see... But.

There are no unit descriptions. No funny quotes. Neither for units nor spells nor anything. There's no context to allof this, it's just bundles of stats and abilities. Even in a generic sense. What's a "Dark Warrior" and how are they different from other warriors? Etc. Etc. Warlocks do certain things but there's no indication as to why and how. There's no personality in it. I know they wanted a more free-form "Create your own fantasy" feel than AOW1-3 and Planetfall, but I feel like there should have been a way to make the descriptions generic enough to work. Like what's a "Dark Warrior"? What does that mean? Warlocks clearly *means* something, they have certain abilities (that gets modded, etc.) but there's no indication what that is, in the in-universe sense. Same with the spell/tome descriptions, they're bundles of effects with no background.

It makes the entire thing feel wierdly sterile and uninhabited compared to the other games.

 

[Chainlinc3]

I guess? As someone who mostly ignored or rejected Planetfall lore because it didn't fit the fantasy I wanted to play, I personally don't care-- I was going to make up my own stories anyway. But not everyone is a compulsive storyteller, so even a minimalist blurb about like... How warlocks get their power from dark, sacrificial rituals or something, would be a solid improvement.

I guess it would be easy enough to mod in, but it's a weird feeling when you need a third-party to provide your lore text. I dunno, it doesn't really effect me, but I can totally get where you're coming from.

 

[Beytran70]

I understand why it isn't there. It isn't there because most of the units you will be seeing are tied to the more nebulous custom faction system, meaning they don't really HAVE set lore. You make the lore for your own faction. So, unlike in AoW3 for instance where you had specific Dwarf Warriors and the lore text referenced specific Dwarf things, now you just have Dark Warriors which could be any form from any number of backgrounds, only united behind a single thing: the theme of the culture.

Now I personally think they still could have written lore blurbs based on that theme, but they apparently didn't think it was worth the hassle. I and some others on the Discord have already written a few ourselves and if its possible to add them via mods I likely will help do so since they were one of my favorite bits of 3. That said, the Tomes actually do seem to have lore blurbs and they are voiced, so thats nice at least.

 

[Erath Vael]

One of the things I loved about the original Age of Wonders and Shadow Magic was the unit descriptions. That little window into the workings of the world felt so fun. Age of Wonders 3 carried it on with in-universe snippets which were often comical, and while I didn't enjoy those as much they still did a great job of making the world seem more realized. I was surprised how much I liked them when I revisit AoW3 after this one's expansion.

Never got into Planetfall, so I can't comment on that.

 

[Newbee53]

I kind of like the tech lore, which could probably be worked into this system easily enough, but for AOW4 I don't think unit descriptions are really doable. Then again, I can't say I paid attention to the unite descriptions in Planetfall. I did read some, but stopped when I realized they were quite a bit of a rail road. Seeing the Assembly as the decedents of desperate survivors that have plenty of individuality and willingness to cooperate is difficult when every game with them starts with 'remember not to be a proto-bog hive mind please!'


Maybe it’s just me, but I can imagine a dark culture that is good or neutral without much difficulty. Or a high culture that goes evil. I understand and even appreciate the moral shifts that the cultures give you, they are quite small, but if those unites came with descriptions that made them sound necessarily evil or good, I'd probably have difficulty playing them the other way.

Buildings follow the same line of reasoning as unites, but wonders and other map features don't. I guess it’s about whether or not the description would interfere with my vision of my faction. So, some descriptions are possible, just don't know about all of them.

From a practical point of view, the problem of descriptions is a bit of a tricky one. Would a wolf description on a mega beast world be the same as one on a plane without that modifier? What about a world dedicated to good, should their nymphs have a different description? Would undead monsters on a ruined plane have a different description then the ones on one saturated in undeath?

We saw that they gave descriptions to ancient wonders, and I worry that the first time I run into some wonder it will be on a world where the description is hilarious inappropriate. Of course, it’s possible the developers added alternate descriptions and triggers. Which might explain why only certain features have descriptions. The number of alternate descriptions would get out of hand quickly.

 

[Heshin]

I really enjoy some of the unit descriptions in other AoW titles. I would be very surprised if there wasn’t some sort of appendix or compendium that has some chunky lore bits for units and other stuff.

 

[Arilou]

Seeing the Assembly as the decedents of desperate survivors that have plenty of individuality and willingness to cooperate is difficult when every game with them starts with 'remember not to be a proto-bog hive mind please!'

The assembly isn't a hivemind. They'll break you down and reassemble you into a different you, but they're all still individual consciousnesses.

 

[Sollis]

I think they could easy provide some very simple unit descriptions without compromising their design philosophy. Just a couple of lines or two that reflect the artistic direction and function each unit serves.

For example, the skeleton units:
"The skeletal militia of [insert faction name] are raised from the graveyards of our fallen to serve in death as they did in life. Armed with spears, these simple-minded husks form a capable and expendable unit to blunt the charge of man, beast or monstrosity. Don't pay mind to their falling once more, they will offer no complaint." - [insert name of some necromancer or book]

The Bone Golem:
"A clutch of skeletons woven together to form a more useful husk. A robust construct, capable of leading the vanguard or covering the flanks to offer protection to a vulnerable backline. While the golem is expendable, you will find these constructs are able to withstand a surprising amount of punishment before expiring." - [insert name of some necromancer or book]

I don't think it would be difficult to add a touch of flavor text that offers a hint of the ideal use of each unit without distracting from the lore a player might attach to each unit. All the text needs to be is a prompt for the players imagination if you want to avoid breaking lore - tell us what the unit does with a hint of flavor.

 

[Newbee53]

The assembly isn't a hivemind. They'll break you down and reassemble you into a different you, but they're all still individual consciousnesses.

Shows how good memory is. Been a bit sense I’ve played planetfall.

I think the point stands however. When making a game intended to maximize customization like AOW4 lore pieces need to be handled with care.

 

[Uriak]

Seems to me liege units could have descriptions without issue. Culturals ca be to depending on the wording, or just do a witness account, regardless of the race of said unit. They did manage it with secret tech units in PF

 

[Lord Sheogorath]

I liked that the lore/descriptions AOW3 can make great short stories when you piece different descriptions together. Like the "expedition to starwall" story is divided among all the archon unit descriptions. Or the bone collector and pony rider descriptions accurately describe their abilities in the story, and flesh out a story of a bone collector frightening an army (they have fearsome at gold rank) before a bunch of pony riders (which have high resistance and strong will at gold) charge it fearlessly. The outcome isn't stated and it isn't even clear if those two incidents are related but it feels good to speculate. And it makes you look those unit's abilities and say "well, that makes sense...".

On the other hand it feels out of place if a unit's description doesn't match their abilities, or doesn't mention one of their most unique ability. The eldritch horror for example, the description states that it makes people mad with fear (fearsome and brain rot), but another unique ability that is only found in the eldritch horror, "shock breath" isn't mentioned or what is the creature's relationship with shock.

 

[Burjis]

I don't know about starting cultural units, but the Mage Bane and Lost Wizard units we saw on the last stream BEG for some background lore descriptions. If you're creating a starting race based on your own vision, then you also give them the description you need and it makes sense if their units have no description on them. But a significant percentage of your unit roster and a large number of units you encounter as foes, including tome units, liege units, world inhabitants, etc. can't go without a description.

 

[Sollis]

The short description for cultural units aren't difficult so long as we understand the thematic gist of each culture.
For example:

Feudal Polearm Unit: "A militia gathered from the common folk. Armed with long-hafted implements, these loyal subjects are prepared to serve their liege Lord as required." - [Insert some knight's name or the name of a scholar]

In the example, we don't define anything outside of the premise of a 'feudal' culture. This isn't difficult to achieve. All we do is look at the central premise of the culture and the art provided to derive the themes that we can leverage. The art tells a tale for each unit. So do the mechanical stats of each unit. All you need is a few careful lines of text to lace all of that together.

A touch of flavor text will ground each unit in the world. I think it would be a mistake for a development team to miss this easy win.

 

[Beytran70]

The short description for cultural units aren't difficult so long as we understand the thematic gist of each culture.
For example:

Feudal Polearm Unit: "A militia gathered from the common folk. Armed with long-hafted implements, these loyal subjects are prepared to serve their liege Lord as required." - [Insert some knight's name or the name of a scholar]

In the example, we don't define anything outside of the premise of a 'feudal' culture. This isn't difficult to achieve. All we do is look at the central premise of the culture and the art provided to derive the themes that we can leverage. The art tells a tale for each unit. So do the mechanical stats of each unit. All you need is a few careful lines of text to lace all of that together.

A touch of flavor text will ground each unit in the world. I think it would be a mistake for a development team to miss this easy win.

Yeah as stated above this is the approach my friends and I had in mind. Here is an example of one I wrote that would fit for the T1 Feudal Shield unit or something.

"For the noble lords and ladies of the land whose births herald glory for the realm, it can sometimes be hard to empathize with the common man. All too easy is it to view your soldiers and workers as pawns on a chess board, but this is the trap of the arrogant. I pray you do not fall into it before finding your castle besieged by raging beastfolk, with the only thing remaining between you and them being a young lad with a shield and a longsword. I've found myself in such positions, and were I a lesser lord, I do not think he'd have bothered even locking the door before abandoning me to my fate." -- Feudalism for Dummies Vol. 2 by Marquis Dupont De'bayle