Age of Wonders: Planetfall - Interview @PCGamesN

The developers of Age of Wonders: Planetfall were interviewed by PCGamesN.

PCGamesN: You mentioned that Planetfall was partly a response to certain criticisms of Age of Wonders III. Which criticisms specifically?

Tom Bird: One was that the world map layer felt underdeveloped – specifically, its economic aspects. In Age of Wonders III, you plonk down a city to capture nodes, those nodes give you income, you use that income to make more cities, to capture more nodes, and it’s a circle.

People wanted more; they wanted more decisions, and more decisions that meant something, beyond simply ‘what do I grab next, and how do I grab it.’ So a lot of work has gone into ensuring that the game offers those kinds of choices; risk, reward, and alternatives, optimal paths here but also a sub-optimal path that is optimal in other ways.

The new exploitation system is an example of this, right?

Benny Arents: Yes. Different terrains and different biomes will all determine the potential of sectors that you acquire. But you don’t have to use these sectors to their full potential if you don’t want to – it might be better for you to make a sub-optimal choice now to increase the growth of your colonies, and then maybe switch that over later on. We also have landmark structures that give strong bonuses in single resources. Players will be fighting over territory to claim these landmarks, which can really boost their empire and get ahead of others.

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Thanks Farflame!