| Title | Planetfall: we need to talk about the M-word |
| Author | Tom Chick |
| Posted in | Game diaries |
| When | March 9, 2021 |
I'm occasionally surprised to hear people who play sci-fi strategy games complain that they don't want to build their own ships. Since Master of Orion, this has been a fundamental part of the genre..
I should start playing Planetfall again. Your diary made me think I’m not putting near enough thought into my decisions while I play, that’s for sure.
The M-word is “Meretzky,” right??
Were you playing this in a campaign map or randomized map?
I hope in Tom’s next installment he talks about Floyd.
Ha ha, you guys cried when Floyd died!
Eww, campaign maps. I have zero interest in whatever scripted campaign Planetfall ships with. I’m not missing anything, am I?
All of these entries will be about Galactic Mode, so they’re all randomized maps with that mode’s unique traits and objectives.
-Tom
You’re really, really not.
As someone who bounced off the campaign, this is good to hear. These articles are inspiring me to give Planetfall another shot.
Empire mode is outstanding IMO. Just a wonderful fit for what Planetfall does well.
I’m going to be that annoying guy and point out that there is one unit that has no mod slots :p
This diary series is tempting me to play again, at a time when I have no time.
I wish games like this would stop putting time and resources into campaign modes. They are usually not good, I read all the time about people bouncing off the game as they assume the campaign is where they should start, and nothing a campaign can do is as inherently interesting as the emergent gameplay of a random map, which is the objectively best way to play these games. And instead of a campaign those resources could go into more content for the best way to play.
Just do a small/short campaign that also serves as a new player tutorial and when it ends have the game generate a quick/default setup map to get them going on.
I used to love playing the campaigns of strategy games - even RTSs like Age of Empires, Command and Conquer. I do have to admit that lately that hasn’t been the case.Too many times a campaign throws in something that feels artificial, like boom this stack of enemies appears on turn 20. I’m not against them in theory, but I don’t seem to like them like I used to.
This is pretty much me as well - but also to be honest, the stories don’t tend to be super interesting (maybe when told from this style of gameplay?) so the scripted dialog and moments that pause the gameplay for a story I don’t care about can burn me out quick. Dedicated strategy/tactical gameplay is what I’m after. Give me the pure stuff.
RTS campaigns also have much shorter missions. A StarCraft or AOE mission is typically what, 20-ish minutes tightly focused around one or two scripted objectives? That’s a totally different beast than a 4X campaign.
Anyway, agreed on 4X campaigns being generally an unwelcome moistness in posterior gas passage. I adore Planetfall’s Empire mode, and I’m super hopeful for what Mohawk is doing with Old World as well (set it down a while ago, I’ll get back to it after it bakes some more).
I think the last 4X* campaign I really enjoyed was HOMM4, and that was partially because the heroes were a bit more like RPG characters in that one. I played a lot more skirmish maps in 2, 3 and 5 because I enjoyed the core gameplay a more in those titles.
*It counts!
Sadly, as much as I tried to like them, I just got bored. AoW3 campaign they made I absolutely adored.
I dunno, the human ones were pretty boring but I kinda liked the Dvar and Amazon campaigns’ backstory and revelations. I think for the most part yeah, you’re only going to get so much story in a 4X scripted campaign, but I liked having mini-goals and puzzles with bits of character and flavor. Plus it helped me really cement where each faction was coming from philosophy-wise.
I don’t remember how many of the campaigns I started, but I agree that they helped appreciate the lore for the various races.
I honestly wasnt that a big a fan of random worlds, and actually preferred the campaigns.
Also, I had taken Planetfall of my gaming backlog, until this damn @tomchick fellow made a pretty great case for me to reinstall it.
Could somebody tell me more about this feature from the latest patch.
Galactic Empire: Customize your own empire by conquering worlds with progress that carries over between play sessions. Combine technology from various races and carry over heroes between planets as you lay the foundation of an eternal empire!
Does it make a big difference?
later in the game, There are lots of miles available, and it can be fun to think about what the optimal loadout would be against various animals. However, I never have enough cosmite it to reoptimize a stack or two for only a couple of battles So I end up going with mods that work “in general.”
empire mode does help with this a bit as the Environment can sometimes favor certain mods as in Toms example
I would say yes.
Think of it as a persistent skirmish mode, so your results from one skirmish carry over to the next, i.e. your leader gains, and keeps, that experience, and you maintain a coterie of heroes.
But the twist is you get 3 skirmishes to choose from (you can reroll as many items as you like) and each comes with different parameters, different start conditions, different victory conditions.
You also unlock different mods from races or secret techs, that you can then carry forward.