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TBS Age of Wonders: Planetfall - AoW gone to space

chuft

Augur
Joined
Jun 7, 2008
Messages
496
My experience with AOW3 campaigns was the scenarios were all rush scenarios where the AI started with tons of cities but few units and you were supposed to rush them with your starting forces. The RMG is a much more organic situation where everybody starts the same so it's far more about developing a position. I abandoned the campaign when the rush nature became clear.

By contrast I enjoyed the AOW2 and SM campaigns.
 

Zboj Lamignat

Arcane
Joined
Feb 15, 2012
Messages
5,520
AoW3 vanilla campaigns are boring and, like I said, you don't get the dlc improvements in them. But both dlc campaigns are really good. And RMG won't give you the handcrafted feel of course, but RMG in AoW3 works really well. There are only two downsides to it:

1. Your starting city never has anything interesting in domain range, so your capital often ends up as your shittiest city, which is kinda weird.
2. The map generator often spams these long rivers with impassable rocks and depending on their placement, you can get heavily location-screwed.
 

Dawkinsfan69

Dumbfuck!
Dumbfuck Bethestard
Joined
Jun 3, 2016
Messages
2,815
Location
inside ur mom ᕦ( ▀̿ Ĺ̯ ▀̿ )ᕤ
To what extent do dinosaurs figure into the game?

this, is the most important question when evaluating any game
zack-stella-zackstella-mtg-gishath-sun-s-avatar.jpg
 

chuft

Augur
Joined
Jun 7, 2008
Messages
496
So Planetfall is on sale this weekend. $30 for everything including next expansion, whatever and whenever that is. Rather an odd incentive structure.

Any more thoughts? Been playing Warhammer Gladius lately and though it's not SMAC, it's a lot of fun, so I am thinking a sci fi strategy game does not need to be the best of all time as long as it offers something new.
 

Zboj Lamignat

Arcane
Joined
Feb 15, 2012
Messages
5,520
Any more thoughts?
Read the thread? Nothing shocking really happened with this game since release to change people's opinions.

Normally I'd say at like -60-70% for full package it might be worth giving a shot, but due to a completely retarded base pricing (big reason for it bombing imo) it's still too high. Personally, I haven't been this disappointed in a game since forever. I guess your impressions might be highly dependent on how much you've enjoyed AoW3.

Oh, it's nothing like Gladius btw.
 

chuft

Augur
Joined
Jun 7, 2008
Messages
496
Lacrymas how do you feel about AoW3, one of my favorite all time games?
 

chuft

Augur
Joined
Jun 7, 2008
Messages
496
Just read a review on Steam

"In combat, all units now have % chance to hit, with the possibilities of full damage, graze, or miss."

Ugh. This was something that really grated on my nerves when I went back to Shadow Magic recently. I forgot how aggravating it is to miss - something that never happens in either Gladius or AoW3.
 

anvi

Prophet
Village Idiot
Joined
Oct 12, 2016
Messages
7,530
Location
Kelethin
I love AOW3 but having trouble with difficulty. If it is too easy it gets boring, you get half way through a huge scenario, fight off some tough rivals, and then the last guy on the map is basically an inactive AI that barely left his town... and if it is too hard, I hate losing, and end up having to super micro manage every unit and building on every turn to out ocd the AI. Kinda becomes more like a job than a game at that point... I usually like the scenarios but that has been bugging me. I love the skirmishes though. The huge roaming armies of undead keep things interesting. But I haven't played for a long time, especially since finding an amazing Forged Alliance mod.
 

chuft

Augur
Joined
Jun 7, 2008
Messages
496
I suggest using the Seals of Power victory conditions, they make the game much better. You get VPs by controlling Seals which are these sites in the open that spawn elemental armies that try to liberate them from whomever owns them at the moment. It means there are tons of field battles and you can win without having to conquer all or even most of the map, just by holding enough seals long enough. If an AI gets a lead then you have to go over and bust up his Seals holdings to stop him from winning. It really shakes things up and is a much more exciting end game than having to dig everyone out who is turtling in their capitals. You can still attack and conquer cities and it can be advantageous to do so, but that is more the middle game than the end game. If you spend all your time trying to conquer your neighbors somebody on the other side of the map will run off with a Seals VP lead and win. Give it a try, I think it makes gameplay more exciting strategically, and also makes the game shorter, since most enemy empires can still be in existence when you win.
 

chuft

Augur
Joined
Jun 7, 2008
Messages
496
Yeah they added several new ways to win in an update or expansion. I always play with Seals now. There is another one, Unifier or something, based on building special buildings (AIs will react violently if someone goes for this) but I don't have much experience with it. Seals really works.
 

Silly Germans

Guest
Yeah they added several new ways to win in an update or expansion. I always play with Seals now. There is another one, Unifier or something, based on building special buildings (AIs will react violently if someone goes for this) but I don't have much experience with it. Seals really works.
Does the ai react when you are holding seals ? My memory is a bit fuzzy, i think i tried seals only once or twice and was disappointed that the Ai didn't even try to stop me from winning by holding the seals. Does it attack you when you are holding the seals in the current version ?
 

chuft

Augur
Joined
Jun 7, 2008
Messages
496
Oh yes they will all declare war on you and invade if you pull ahead in the Seals VPs. And if you fall behind they fight amongst each other, attacking whoever has the most. Timing when to grab them and how long to hold on can be interesting since you want them to fight each other as much as possible. But if you pull out front, or are expected to (it calculates turn of win based on current holdings if ownership does not change) they will definitely try to take the Seals from you.
 

Silly Germans

Guest
Oh yes they will all declare war on you and invade if you pull ahead in the Seals VPs. And if you fall behind they fight amongst each other, attacking whoever has the most. Timing when to grab them and how long to hold on can be interesting since you want them to fight each other as much as possible. But if you pull out front, or are expected to (it calculates turn of win based on current holdings if ownership does not change) they will definitely try to take the Seals from you.
Sounds good, i guess i'll give seals another try. I played scenarios and random maps most of the time with the seals and unification condition deactivated.
 

anvi

Prophet
Village Idiot
Joined
Oct 12, 2016
Messages
7,530
Location
Kelethin
Yeah they added several new ways to win in an update or expansion. I always play with Seals now. There is another one, Unifier or something, based on building special buildings (AIs will react violently if someone goes for this) but I don't have much experience with it. Seals really works.
Holy crap that Unifier one sounds amazing! Reminds me of the good ole days when I played C&C online and players would hunker down and turtle against massive attacks. I just started a Seals game then I will try that. Thanks for the info! I should have tinkered with things sooner!
 

Zboj Lamignat

Arcane
Joined
Feb 15, 2012
Messages
5,520
Apparently the final expansion details leaked on Steam by accident. New race are "noble paladins" focused on arc damage. Mix between Archons and nu-WH ripoff? "New" mechanics is some sort of more powerful landmarks unlocked through quests and more neutral/wildlife units.

And so, instead of at least trying to upgrade to AoW3 standard with things like maybe additional strategic layer or race xp trees, Planetfall decides to leave the stage with a whimper. Not like there's much audience left, I guess.
 

flyingjohn

Arcane
Joined
May 14, 2012
Messages
2,944
Apparently the final expansion details leaked on Steam by accident. New race are "noble paladins" focused on arc damage. Mix between Archons and nu-WH ripoff? "New" mechanics is some sort of more powerful landmarks unlocked through quests and more neutral/wildlife units.

And so, instead of at least trying to upgrade to AoW3 standard with things like maybe additional strategic layer or race xp trees, Planetfall decides to leave the stage with a whimper. Not like there's much audience left, I guess.
They are not paid money to fix stuff ,they are paid money to make shit dlc and make paradox money.
Aow3 dlc happened because the game was failing and that would men closure for them,so they actually tried.
 

Lacrymas

Arcane
Joined
Sep 23, 2015
Messages
17,948
Pathfinder: Wrath
Maybe it's better for them to move on to other stuff that doesn't require AoW3 levels of tweaking and reworking to get decent. Yeah, it sucks for people who already bought the game, but it's obvious they aren't trying.
 

Citizen

Guest
I d1p the season pass :smug: lets see what unholy furry abominations they throw at me this time
 

Silly Germans

Guest
Maybe it's better for them to move on to other stuff that doesn't require AoW3 levels of tweaking and reworking to get decent. Yeah, it sucks for people who already bought the game, but it's obvious they aren't trying.
AoW 3 was ok on release. I was slightly positive surprised by it, i had expected worse. With the addons it got more meat but the "taste" was already set and palatable. But who wants to go from a well prepared dish to this repulsive grub, certainly not me. It is strange that they failed so hard, while they should have taken an easy road to AoW IV. A little bit of polish/balancing, better art design/graphics and an improved ai, but apparently this has become an insurmountable task nowadays ...
 

Zboj Lamignat

Arcane
Joined
Feb 15, 2012
Messages
5,520
Yeah, I ain't surprised that this game has failed when it comes to establishing and maintaining a playerbase - they have set themselves up for it. But seeing how bland and uninspired the actual gameplay is when they had a really good platform to build upon is really weird and disappointing. Realizing that they won't even try to salvage it was just rubbing salt on the wound.

Maybe there's an excuse somewhere, like snowjews cutting funds when the they saw no one gave a shit about the release, but ultimately it doesn't change anything.
 

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