Age of Wonders: Planetfall released a new update that adds an incredible amount of new content. Called the Tyrannosaurus Update, many of the new features being introduced are based on feedback from the fans. There are new exploration sites for players and new racial starting bonuses. There are even new master setting that everyone is sure to enjoy.
According to a press statement, the team over at Triumph Studios said that in coming out with this new content, their goal was “perfecting and adding to the rich gameplay that longtime players know while making it easier than ever for newcomers to jump into the action.” This massive update is all thanks to the community and Planetfall team working together.
That said, let's dive in to the new features coming to the game. The first is that in Advanced Setting under Game Flow, there is now a No Colonizer Mode. While colonizers can still be gained from both Settlements and Anomalous Sites, in this mode players can no longer build them. This means more battles and less empire building.
Another new feature is Fleeing Enemies. When players attack a weaker stack, the stack now sometimes retreat, though players can still choose to fight it. Meanwhile, attacking a stack having around the same strength gives players the choice to bribe them with energy to leave.
The new update now adds a new master setting known as Game Intensity, which allows players to have a game that is easier and more relaxing to play. Game Intensity lets players control four settings under the Advanced Toggle:
- AI Passivity
- Controls how active AIs are when it comes to diplomacy.
- How hard they try and interact with the player.
- Controls how active AIs are when it comes to diplomacy.
- Defender Strength
- Controls the strength of the independent stacks on the world map.
- Previously called World Threat
- NPC Dwelling Mode
- Controls how often the NPC factions make demands or hand out quests.
- Setting this mode to Passive results in faction rivalry being disabled.
- Players no longer get penalized by one faction as a result of doing quests for another faction.
- Spawner Aggression
- Controls how often spawners create armies that attack the player.
As mentioned, there are new Exploration Sites. In particular, various Strategic Structures have rebranded to a new structure category call Exploration Site. While these structures give +10 income per resource and buff units produced in owning cities, players need to send armies to clear them before they can be used. In addition to the previous surface tactical map, they now have interior maps as well. Below are the new Exploration Sites:
- Psi Shrine
- Units built in the owner colony gain 2 Psi Resistance.
- Changed income from 5 Research to 10 Research and 10 Energy.
- Imperial War Monument
- Non-mindless Units built in the owner colony gain 200 morale.
- Changed income from 2 Happiness to 10 Production and 10 Food.
- DNA Vault
- Biological and Cybernetic units built in the owner colony gain +5 HP.
- Changed income from 5 Food to 10 Food and 10 Research.
- Biological and Cybernetic units built in the owner colony gain +5 HP.
- Terraforming Station
- Units built in the owner colony gain +1 Status Effect Resistance on every channel.
- Changed income from 5 Food to 20 Food.
- Heavy Weapons Factory
- Heavy units built in the owner colony gain +1 armor.
- Changed income from 5 Production to 20 Production.
- Broadcast Station
- Units built in the owner colony gain +10% accuracy.
- Changed income from 1 Influence to 5 Influence.
- Paragon Barracks
- Light units built in the owner colony gain +1 shields.
- Added 10 Energy and 10 Production income.
Finally, we go to the Racial Starting Bonuses. With the update, each race now has starting bonuses. These should make each race feel different during gameplay. The bonuses are:
- Assembly
- Start with 20 extra cosmite.
- Always ignore the modded unit penalty.
- Removed the Augmentative Mastery doctrine
- It's now free.
- Moved the Neural-Interface Data Core up to tier 5 to replace it.
- Vanguard
- Starting army is now all at Novice rank.
- All units are now produced from colonies with +1 level.
- Amazons
- Start with a random animal unit
- A T2 animal or a T1 hopper hound.
- Earn food whenever they kill an animal in combat.
- Start with a random animal unit
- Dvar
- Start with +150 energy.
- Gets a 15% discount for using energy to rush production.
- Kirko
- Start the game with 2 emergent units.
- Receive a 25% reduction on the upkeep of all T1 and T2 units.
- Syndicate
- Start with 25 extra influence.
- Have +1 doctrine slot.
You can view all the new features and changes that arrived with the update here.
- Expansive turn-based and 4X elements, with tons of freedom of choice.
- Diverse races, with lots of distinctions between each one.
- Strategic gameplay rewarded and limited by your own creativity and imagination.
- In-depth tech tree with a ton of branching paths to go through.
- Easy to get into for casual players of the genre.
- A bit daunting at first, which may put off and overwhelm some players.
- Lacking in sound design and the music department.
- Not very intuitive at times, with some tedium setting in once your empire gets bigger.
