Age of Wonders: Planetfall Tips
The challenge within Age of Wonders: Planetfall is no easy task. Your task is to rebuild a galactic empire under constant scrutiny from invaders, opportunistic individuals, enemies and much more. This game beautifully combines the civ-sim genre with tactical combat. The objective is simple, rebuild your empire, adventure the universe, and conquer neighboring factions. But however simple the goals of Age of Wonders might seem; it is a challenging game. Luckily, we have some tips to help you out.
Take Control (Age of Wonders: Planetfall Tips)
Divide and conquer will get you a long way in Age of Wonders: Planetfall, so make sure to annex local sectors. Each sector is going to have some form of resources, and each sector will be better at producing different resources. More sectors mean more food, knowledge, energy and production resources for you. More resources mean your empire will flourish.
Annexation is simple, just move the unit onto the sector’s flag and select “Annex”. You don’t need to remain in the sector to gain control. Keep in mind annexation takes a turn to complete. Afterwards, you’ll be able to select the resource you want to gather.
Expand your Colonies (Age of Wonders: Planetfall Tips)
Smaller colonies will be fun to grow and manage, but eventually you will need to expand your area of control. This can be done in several ways, either create forward bases and build up defenses, or build a Colonizer and create a new colony. These two modes come with similar or differing upgrade routes depending what type of “Centre” you want to make. And of course, once your colonies grow, so too must your armies for a secure defense.
Keep up the Exploration (Age of Wonders: Planetfall Tips)
The map is big in Planetfall, and there’s plenty of areas to explore. Most maps are going to have multiple pickups, points of interest, enemy locations and landmarks to explore.
For exploration, scout units are key. Our tip here is to create your scouts early in the game, and immediately explore the map. Scouts can help you annex locations early, collect pickups, and find other key areas of interest. The earlier you find something valuable the stronger you’ll be once the game fully kicks off.
Become the Conqueror
War is an inevitable in Age of Wonders: Planetfall. There is always a faction in the game that will not accept peace for an answer.
It is important that you create at the very least one ally early on. Make sure all your enemies are not allied with each other, that way they can eliminate each other.
Develop Trading Networks
If you developed some allies, we’ve got good news. You can trade with these guys, everything can be traded, from information to resources and even annexed sectors.
The AI in this game is wicked smart though, so keep in mind that maintaining allies can be tricky at times. Make sure you do just enough to keep your allies, while still having enough for your own empire.
Think Critically
Age of Wonders: Planetfall uses the turn-based game system, so each player has plenty of time to think (or overthink) their next move. For example, many factions will award allies with mods, resources and weapons, but what will you do when an opposing faction suddenly starts offering you better rewards? You’ll consider switching sides but be aware each move in Planetfall comes with consequences as well as those awesome rewards. Take your time and plan each move a few steps ahead; you’ll be a better player in the long run.
Learn to Survive
The game’s combat is very similar to XCOM, armies are moved throughout a grid-based area. They can attack, guard and make use of abilities and special skills. There are Hero units that can be leveled up, unlocking skill points and gaining experience, and plenty of modifications that can be applied.
The game’s mods can alter attacks, add buffs, regenerate health and help you build a better defense. But mods can be split up to individual units or a broader selection of units. Special research projects can help you build advance facilities and improve overall unit efficiency.
We recommend starting off by building up units with well balanced stats, just until you figure out your strategy, this will make it easier to survive whatever the game throws your way.
Special Operations
Players can choose to pour money into special operations research. This area of knowledge is especially useful, as special operations allow for powerful attacks that can be used on both the battlefield and the map. Want to call in an air strike, or maybe unleash a disease on your enemy? Well thanks to special operations, you can, and these moves are extremely useful in battle.
A good strategy here is to use the special operations attack before you move in to battle the enemy. A well-placed strike can apply negative status effects to the enemies, ultimately weakening them enough and giving you the upper hand.
Endurance is Key
The campaigns are going to have specific conditions for allowing successful wins, but the free play scenarios rely on points, building certain weapons, or just straight up eliminating your opponents.
However, winning by any of these conditions require you to survive for a long duration of time. You’ll need to prepare for victory by endurance. Plan carefully, don’t spend all your resources on advancements you don’t absolutely need, and avoid conflict if it will critically weaken your empire.
It might be a good idea to forge an alliance with some of your enemies, just until you can get strong enough to defeat them or successfully defend yourself from them.
Age of Wonders: Planetfall is a deeply immersive experience. Your wits will be tested, but you will become the ultimate strategist and an empire building machine with enough game time.
We hope these tips helped to sharpen your playstyle, or maybe even guide you through your first time playing.
None the less, leave some comments and let us know what you think, have another tip or strategy we haven’t mentioned? Let us know!
