Triumph Studios/ Paradox Games to release Age of Wonders: Planetfall!

[Green1]

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https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-05-19-age-of-wonders-goes-sci-fi-with-planetfall

19/05/2018
PC / PlayStation 4 / Xbox One
Age of Wonders goes sci-fi
Prepare for Planetfall.

Wesley Yin-Poole

Deputy Editor

@wyp100
The next game in the Age of Wonders series is a science fiction version called Planetfall.

Age of Wonders: Planetfall is a turn-based empire building strategy game due out on PC and consoles in 2019. Triumph Studios, developer of the Age of Wonders games, is once again at the helm, with Paradox publishing.

Setting wise, you emerge from a fallen galactic empire to explore planetary ruins and meet surviving factions that have each evolved in their own way. The single-player campaign sees you discover the history of a civilisation. There are random maps and you can play multiplayer against friends.

Triumph boss Lennart Sas said Planetfall is roughly three years into development, and runs on a new generation of its Creator Engine. "While the setting is new, we're confident that Age of Wonders fans will feel right at home exploring the remnants of the Star Union," he said.

"Our aim is to make a game that greatly expands upon its predecessors, and still employs the core principles that made Age of Wonders such a success."



Here are the key features, as per Paradox:

- Strategic Turn-Based Sci-Fi Combat: Perfect your combat strategy in intense turn-based battles that offer tactical challenges, a large cast of races, units with customisable weapons, and destructible environments.

- Discover a Rich Science Fiction World: Uncover the history of the fallen galactic empire as you explore lush landscapes, and experience the emergent story. Encounter NPC factions and rival houses, and discover hidden technologies that can strengthen your society and give you advantage over enemies.

- Planetary Empire Building: Create your own unique House, and build prosperous colonies through economic specializations of planetary sectors and governing doctrines.

- Multiple Paths to Victory: Achieve your end goals through conquest, diplomacy or doomsday technologies. Engrossing options with NPC factions and rival Houses won't make the decisions easy!

[Green1]

To modders...

Triumph's Creator Engine is pretty darn powerful. Takes a beast of a machine to run the dev engine, but you can do a lot with it.

[BlaneckW]

You remember me right? Mr. Critical.  But, judging from aow3, this should be good, even if, judging from predecessor, it's AI might not be perfect, or it's factions/classes entirely balanced.  Here's to hoping it improves on it's predecessors - which I think it will.

I'll probably buy it when it comes out, at full price, just to support the developers.  I still play aow3 (and I haven't even bothered with multiplayer yet).  I don't think it's campaign was quite as good as aow1&2, but i think it was "on it's way" towards recapturing that.  It needs a good AI.

I don't know if Planetfall will have the same ideological depth as Alpha Centauri, or a political side.  I mean, Alpha Centauri has a Chinese Legalist! MY FAVORITE TOTALITRIANISM, and real-world to boot.  But, it does say Planetfall has governing doctrines, and based on it's predecessors, it could also end up with a great sci-fi lore.

I don't have much bad to say about Paradox.  Again, I just think it'd be cooler if the politics were fleshed out, which is something the Kaissereich mod does for Hearts of Iron.  But an article suggests they're leaving Triumph at the helm anyway.

Unlike Beyond Earth, article suggests unique factions.  But, it's on the basis of technology rather than ideology.  It will be like aow3.  I think it will be a very different kind of game from Alpha Centauri. But I also think one can be optimitic for it, and I hope the forum and AC2 community can make way for this game, with a show of future activity and modding.  If it had a branching tech tree and ideological/political depth and choices, I'd call it AC2.

[Green1]

I agree.

Now, I am usually a late adopter. My playtime is limited and I got out of the whole "must have tons of games" with the days of the Atari 2600.

I trust Triumph/ Paradox to make a great game but usually wait for the LPers to see if it appeals to me. (Which Beyond Earth did not after seeing it)

One concern I have is Paradox's tendency to make twenty tons of DLC. Now, an expansion or two is okay because you can usually hold off and get a sweet deal on a bundle like I did to get Golden Realms and Eternal Lords for AoW3 before Paradox bought Triumph. But have you seen the price in Steam to get all the stuff for, say,  Paradox's Europa Universalis? Friggin ridiculous! Yeah, I know once you plop down that much, you have diplomacy and tactics NO 4x can match. But that's WAY too much and prices me out of the market.

[Kamdoni]

Why is the game called Age of Wonders?  It looks nothing like any of the previous games.  I mean, if the same engine is used, and some of the same people from the Age of Wonders series are involved, ok I get it.  Otherwise, why bother?

[Raaf]

Why is the game called Age of Wonders?  It looks nothing like any of the previous games.  I mean, if the same engine is used, and some of the same people from the Age of Wonders series are involved, ok I get it.  Otherwise, why bother?

- It uses an enhanced version of their own game engine that they used for AoW3
- It is made by the same team, who were glad to change the theme after working in fantasy for so long
- There are Dire Pinguins in the new game
- For further connections and possible lore share the developer said: "The Metaverse is large place"