belouski
2802
We were talking about somewhere a while back. It is very much a remake of Ilwinter’s Conquest of Elysium. Its potential was remarked upon then as well.
I liked where it was trying to head, but haven’t checked back on it.
Isn’t Dominions 5 combat pretty hands-off as well?
Is this an AoW3 mod?
Daagar
2804
I was puzzled too - especially as I’m just jumping into AoW3 after kinda not finding the ‘spark’ in Planetfall. I think they are talking about this - just not sure why here :)
I haven’t played Planetfall yet. Why do you think it didn’t click with you?
robc04
2806
For me, I don’t like the mod system in Planetfall. I find it requires too much fiddling and too much enemy unit inspection to see who does what. The rest of the game is pretty good though. I need to go back to it to see the new game mode and all the DLC updates.
Sounds like a problem of too much good stuff!
@Daagar I was talking about it here because there isn’t a dedicated thread for it and search showed this up ad the most recent discussion.
Dominions 5 is also hands off but you can hbfkuence things a great deal more then.
In Dominikns you give orders.
In Godking you do…nothing.
Just march your army onto a hex occupied by another
Make one! I’d be interested in more details! But this probably isn’t the thread to get into discussing a different game, it will make finding said discussion all the harder down the road.
I’ll explore some more of it and then make a thread this week.
Daagar
2810
Honestly, I think it is just theme - I might be wired more for fantasy over scifi when it comes to this kind of game. AoW3 seemed more ‘clear’ and easier to parse what I was seeing on the screen. I haven’t delved deep enough into either to judge them based on mechanics or anything so all my judgements are cosmetic.
I’m not deeply saddened by this - I figure it is worth playing AoW3 first anyway so I ultimately enjoy the improvements in Planetfall (and by then Planetfall should have a complete edition with all the DLC).
It’s funny, I actually like sci fi more, but fantasy is so much more common as a theme for these games that it makes the whole affair much more readable. I can take a glance at most AoW3 enemies and know what they are and what they’re capable of, whereas most Planetfall enemies require careful inspection to figure out the same thing. This applies all the way up and down the game design, AoW3 is vastly more intuitive than Planetfall. Planetfall is, in turn, much more original than AoW3. But it’s that originality that is also a substantial barrier to entry. I know what an orc is, I have no idea what a Kir Ko is.
I run into the same sort of thing, but for me it’s usually the tech tree that requires more parsing. Even after I read through the description I often don’t have the greatest idea what’s going on.
It’s not a game-stopper for me, but I need a higher level of energy to dig into a sci-fi game than I would a traditional fantasy game.
vinraith
2813
Definitely that too. It’s an issue that permeates every aspect of the game for me. It’s not precisely a bad thing, after all originality and novelty are good things, but as you say it requires that extra amount of energy and focus to dig into.
Totally agree with all these takes.
Sharpe
2815
It’s also true that the factions in Planetfall, with the exception of the Vanguard, are just weird factions. Even the new Oathbound, who are very vanilla in their Paladin-wing, have a Seer-wing with very weird abilities. The Amazons have weird bio stuff going on, the Dvar are weird Russian-dwarf-industrial dudes, the Syndicate seems normal-ish at first until you see all the slavery and psionic domination, the Kir’ko are weird insects and the Assembly, the Assembly are freaks.
Other than Vanguard, there is not much in the way of vanilla sci-fi in Planetfall. I personally love that but it also makes intuitively grokking the game fast pretty hard.
ShivaX
2816
Not gonna lie, this is why I can’t get into Planetfall.
I just don’t like the mod system I think.
Daagar
2817
Yes! This much better articulates what it is… I didn’t even really understand what it was myself beyond “theme”, but I think this hits on it exactly.
Sharpe
2818
The game (AOW Planetfall) has a massive learning curve and is also very micro-management intensive. To do well at the tactical battles you really have to learn all the mods and abilities and resistances, or at least most of em, and their ridiculously complex interactions. And then, you have to implement all that in battles, often with numerous units and multiple special abilities. It’s both great and too much. I find the game excellent yet also exhausting.
On the one hand, I respect the depth they’ve built into the game. Really first rate. On the other hand, I find myself wishing the combat/units/mods were vastly streamlined.
It’s odd in that I feel Planetfall did a good job of streamlining the economic and city building parts of AOW3, while still retaining all of the strategic goodness. They went into a different direction with the tactical combat and I think they succeeded at what they were aiming at, but that that target is just a bit much for many players.
If I absolutely had to choose, I would rate AOW3 higher than Planetfall and yet Planetfall is also excellent. It’s hard for me to diss the devs for not just slapping a coat of sci-fi paint on AOW3; they went for a deeper tactical and sci-fi experience and succeeded. But it can be hard to learn and exhausting to play.
The discussion of AoW3 versus Planetfall reminds me of Civ versus Alpha Centauri back in the day. We intuitively understand iron is better than bronze, but we don’t understand the differences between laser and fusion weapons as easily - because they’re not familiar. I know folks who loved Alpha Centauri because it wasn’t familiar. I know people who hated it for the same reasons! Seems much the same here.
robc04
2820
Yeah, I didn’t like Alpha Centauri at all when it came out. The tech tree was jibber jabber.
I tried again several years ago and learned to appreciate it much more - but I still find scifi jibber jabber to be a barrier in games like that.
Fair point, but SMAC is so much more linear.
Fusion is strength 3, laser is strength 2. They’re not proccing different debuffs against certain resistances on specific unit types.
