Age of Wonders: Planetfall - Update: V1.200 "Tyrannosaurus"

[Tombles]

Ty very much!

Thanks! I've noted these down, note that the "we cannot change" text rule means we cannot do some of these (such as the Dream Sharing change), but these ideas have been taken into consideration!

Judging by how things work in IT companies you probably need to book QA time for tests

We have internal QA who are already ready to look into testing possible patches we'll be releasing soon. Also, most of the things we are looking into don't require that type of testing. The game will not break if I reduce the range of an Engulfer to 5, that's pretty much guaranteed, what MIGHT happen though is someone who is not a super-pro player complaining that engulfers are now useless (This is just a hypothetical example, I'm not saying it's true!)

 

[DragonZee]

We have internal QA who are already ready to look into testing possible patches we'll be releasing soon. Also, most of the things we are looking into don't require that type of testing. The game will not break if I reduce the range of an Engulfer to 5, that's pretty much guaranteed, what MIGHT happen though is someone who is not a super-pro player complaining that engulfers are now useless (This is just a hypothetical example, I'm not saying it's true!)

Ah ok, so you have a more streamlined process for addressing balancing issues, that's good to hear. When you said "and please note you literally only have a couple of hours here before I have to make a decision" I assumed you need to specifically request/plan for QA time. Depending on the approach throwing in a few changes to a production build might or might not be a big deal (but should always be done carefully). Let's just trust you on this Tombles that things will be done

 

[Tombles]

Well, I have to make a decision within a few hours, is what I meant. I worry that if I were to try and make the changes tomorrow other parts of our internal processes would be affected.

I certainly hope we can do something!

 

[DragonZee]

See folks, that's how a dev communicates with users about his game, take notes! (Here's hoping you guys won't be flooded by more requests now).

 

[Fluksen]

Ty very much!
1. Essence link lo longer gives additional shields per charge/it is free to use/break.
3.engulfers are now range 5. Can get more damage in return.
7.heritor mod shield applies on ground only/
10. Engulfer vehicle gets cosmite cost and higher energy cost.
12. Veteran costs 2 points (it is very strong for forcelevelling and site digging)
13. Engulfers need more to research, are more expensive.
14. Defensive mods and skills work worse with flyers.
15. Some units or mods of each race become anti-air specific.
18. Engulfers get another prime rank bonus.
19. More aoe skills can target air units.
22. Flyers get a limited amount of damage reduction

Not nearly as experienced as Satonir when it comes to Planetfall live MP, but just want to add my +1 to his proposals that I like most
To point 12.) You mean the archeology veteran right? is that really only 1 point? I always thought it was more...

 

[Tombles]

He means the Perk that lets your hero start at level 3. Unfortunately we can't change its cost because it risks breaking save games, which i don't think would be popular!

 

[iDreadReapr]

I think balancing guiding presence is simple:
1- it should not have psionic buff bcz its deadly when hero is equipped with psionic mods which buff all units in the battlefield
2- change it to once per combat bcz it can run until end of combat if u have 2 kirko heroes
3- reduce range bonus to 1
4- Optional: reduce accuracy bonus to 15-20%

 

[Tombles]

Thanks DreadReaper!

And with that, I'm pretty much out of time. We'll be actioning some fixes and hopefully will have something to show you soon!

 

[iDreadReapr]

Another reason for guiding presence being op is not the ability itself, it’s bcz most factions and secret tech dnt have a battlefield buff hero skill. So changing it to area of effect is not a bad idea but there should be changes to battle plan and anthem of abyss hero skills too.
For example: battle plan can be a game changer in combat against opponent that dont have a battlefield buff

 

[Tombles]

Sure! Please note that in this patch, GP is now an area of effect for the hero (it's still battlefield wide on the T4 unit though):

• Hero Skill ‘Guiding Presence’ - Renamed to ‘Guiding Aura’
• Hero Skill ‘Guiding Aura’ - Changed from map wide to 1 hex range and applies in an AoE of radius 1

 

[iDreadReapr]

Im really happy with most of the patch changes, half of my balance mod changes are removed after the update and back to vanilla . Good luck

 

[Round_Dice]

I don't see a point in nerfing Engulfers now that Amazons have gotten such a hefty boost. They resist both of the Engulfer's damage channels with their racial mods that you'll want on your units anyway.
Thanks to Hazmat Protection and Arc Retaliation Defense Assembly won't have a problem with them either, as long as you're willing to roll Promethean.
Meanwhile, Syndicate can also roll Promethean or just go for Control Amplifier and Focus: Venom on an Overseer with a cheap little army of Indentured to bully Engulfers.

 

[Satonir]

I don't see a point in nerfing Engulfers now that Amazons have gotten such a hefty boost. They resist both of the Engulfer's damage channels with their racial mods that you'll want on your units anyway.
Thanks to Hazmat Protection and Arc Retaliation Defense Assembly won't have a problem with them either, as long as you're willing to roll Promethean.
Meanwhile, Syndicate can also roll Promethean or just go for Control Amplifier and Focus: Venom on an Overseer with a cheap little army of Indentured to bully Engulfers.

How are you going to kill them? At least how are you going to fight with 2-3 hexes range difference between your main unit attack and theirs?

We found ways of fighting engulfers: prime rank jetpack drained spam (if kir'ko is not xenoplague) and syndicate guild assassins as promethean (but only if GP is range 1).

The issue with both right now is that before fighting engulfers you should try to catch them on the world map (and to not get catched)

 

[Zaskow]

The only mod in the game that protects from arc today gives 2 resistance.

There are 3 mods in game vs. arc. Arc Retaliation Defense (early), Positron Discharge Shield (too late) and Grounding Harness.

 

[Satonir]

There are 3 mods in game vs. arc. Arc Retaliation Defense (early), Positron Discharge Shield (too late) and Grounding Harness.

Ah, right. So, 2 at max for Amazon, 4 for Assembly early-mid game, 2 for Syndicate.
Assembly seem to be good here but... Again, we need to find a way to kill 10 range 11 defence units. That defense results in getting 4 damage on indentured, from range 7-8. And you also have to hit somehow (which is a big problem after mass psybuffs and getting electrified)

Also Hazmat is a t2 mod, it has same (pretty painful) price with Amazon regen mod

 

[GygCK2]

Hazmat now is T1 mod researched as The very first tech of prometheans.

 

[ImWist]

Hazmat now is T1 mod researched as The very first tech of prometheans

T1-research but T2-cost

 

[GygCK2]

Isn't it a mistake then? Its benefits aren't worth T2 cost in my opinion.

 

[Round_Dice]

Hazmat costs 5 Cosmite.

Ah, right. So, 2 at max for Amazon, 4 for Assembly early-mid game, 2 for Syndicate.
Assembly seem to be good here but... Again, we need to find a way to kill 10 range 11 defence units. That defense results in getting 4 damage on indentured, from range 7-8. And you also have to hit somehow (which is a big problem after mass psybuffs and getting electrified)

Also Hazmat is a t2 mod, it has same (pretty painful) price with Amazon regen mod

Arborian Sentinel with a Bioregulator has 70 HP, 2 Arc resist, 3 Bio resist, can self buff to 5 Shield and heals for 8 HP per turn for practically the same amount of cosmite as an Engulfer.
Alternatively, it can lose 10 HP for +2 Armor and additional Arc and Bio resist if you mod Hazmat and Grounding on it instead, for the same price.
Throw in a single Biomancer (that will conveniently offset the cosmite difference) into the stack instead of a Sentinel and all the enemy Engulfers suffer -2 resistance.

That's a base comparison.

I'd like to post a counter to your 10 range and 11 defense units, but I'd prefer to avoid guessing your offensive modding, so please post the general setup you have in mind for this.

 

[Satonir]

Hazmat costs 5 Cosmite.


Arborian Sentinel with a Bioregulator has 70 HP, 2 Arc resist, 3 Bio resist, can self buff to 5 Shield and heals for 8 HP per turn for practically the same amount of cosmite as an Engulfer.
Alternatively, it can lose 10 HP for +2 Armor and additional Arc and Bio resist if you mod Hazmat and Grounding on it instead, for the same price.
Throw in a single Biomancer (that will conveniently offset the cosmite difference) into the stack instead of a Sentinel and all the enemy Engulfers suffer -2 resistance.

That's a base comparison.

I'd like to post a counter to your 10 range and 11 defense units, but I'd prefer to avoid guessing your offensive modding, so please post the general setup you have in mind for this.

Hazmat could only start costing 5 cosmite in this patch as it always costed 10.

We never put on the same mods every game in multipayer. But against your sentinels spam those will be: psybuff mantras on 2 lvl12+ heroes: focus:flames and extra evasions (psy + fish if there is), shield psybuffs if the tirn is more then 25-30. Also in the last case a tactical operation for 4 shields for 5 points gets researched.
All heroes get link shards.
1-2 heroes plus maybe 1 engulfer get heritor aoe shield spawner mod.
Engulfers get at least: heritor confiscator mods, electifying mods, the rest one depends. It can be catatonic attack mod, for example.

Ofc electifying mods will be put on a tirn before attack (if they look better in particular case), as it is a huge problem for ground units to attack a flying/floating stack.

Ofc as attacker I use all my prepared strat ops right before attack and have structures strat buffs put on if there were.

And just before you answer, check this. Those are crazy frogs with TNI and accuracy mod. They had 5% accuracy. Tirn about 40 (38-42), they said. Siphoners constantly restarted Engulfers tirns.