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Tourney won by Team Coup de Grâce!!

A great tourney eventually found his earned end!
2018-10-23 19:53:31| Posted by myl_supporter

A tourney ended successfully:

Thanks to all those who participated in this tourney !!
Congrats to the winner(s)! And a big thanks to the organizer myl_supporter!
The following matches were played:

Round 1: Game#1 Coup de Grâce beat King Serpents
Round 1: Game#2 Bastards of the North beat Phoenix Rising
Round 1: Game#3 Zia beat BF+MM
Round 1: Game#4 SIN | The Sinners beat The Baballas
Round 1: Game#5 West Coasters beat Shadow and Flame
Round 1: Game#6 Team of Bears beat Team Mariusz
Round 1: Game#7 The green elephant beat BroZ
Round 1: Game#8 rrrrookie & jonny thunder beat Reapers
Round 2: Game#9 Coup de Grâce beat Bastards of the North
Round 2: Game#10 SIN | The Sinners beat Zia
Round 2: Game#11 West Coasters beat Team of Bears
Round 2: Game#12 The green elephant beat rrrrookie & jonny thunder
Round 2: Game#13 Phoenix Rising beat King Serpents
Round 2: Game#14 The Baballas beat BF+MM
Round 2: Game#15 Shadow and Flame beat Team Mariusz
Round 2: Game#16 Reapers beat BroZ
Round 3: Game#17 Coup de Grâce beat SIN | The Sinners
Round 3: Game#18 West Coasters beat The green elephant
Round 3: Game#19 rrrrookie & jonny thunder beat Phoenix Rising
Round 3: Game#20 Team of Bears beat The Baballas
Round 3: Game#21 Zia beat Shadow and Flame
Round 3: Game#22 Bastards of the North beat BF+MM
Round 4: Game#23 rrrrookie & jonny thunder beat Team of Bears
Round 4: Game#24 Bastards of the North beat Zia
Round 5: Game#25 Coup de Grâce beat West Coasters
Round 5: Game#26 The green elephant beat rrrrookie & jonny thunder
Round 5: Game#27 SIN | The Sinners beat Bastards of the North
Round 6: Game#28 The green elephant beat SIN | The Sinners
Round 7: Game#29 Bastards of the North beat The green elephant
Round 8: Game#30 Coup de Grâce beat Bastards of the North

And the winner was Coup de Grâce.
He will get an extra place in our Hall of Fame!

Good luck and have fun in the next tourneys!

Related Links

Forum | Download | Tourney | More...

AoW: Planetfall collected knowledge - updated 23 August

This article puts all that we know about AoW: Planetfall in one place! It's long but it contains all you want to know. It will be updated regularly to include the latest published information.
2018-08-13 23:04:36| Posted by Hiliadan

Table of content
Introduction by iHunterKiller
Publishing features
Thematic information
Core gameplay features
Combat
Races (6)
Secret Technology "Classes"
Planetary "NPC" Natives
Technology and research
Unit characteristics
Strategic (world) map
Victory conditions
Diplomacy
Character customization
Campaign
Modding & Mapping
Story Information
Technical specifications
Misc

Introduction by iHunterKiller
I was only a young child the first time I played a game in the Age of Wonders series. The famed AoWII demo disk from a popular UK gaming magazine that featured a map with Yaka and his tigrans facing off against Meandor and Julias respective elven factions.

I ended up playing the AoW games everyday after school which helped to spark the inner TBS gamer within me. Fast forward many years and I was overjoyed to be involved in the first wave of beta testing for AoWIII.

All of this backstory is simply to say that I hold the series near to my heart, and so as you can imagine, I was very skeptical of the announcement for the new game. A sci-fi game.. using the Age of Wonders prefix? Thats.. Blasphemy! Did your new parent company force you into this decision!!? My mind started racing to very nefarious places during that initial live stream.

However, while we don't have a whole lot of information yet, I have spent a fair amount of time gathering up everything we do have and suffice it to say, I am intrigued and cant help but find myself feeling positive for the future of the series.

Let me tell you why.

First of all, we don't know whether or not the sci-fi and fantasy universes are one and the same, but either way, it doesn't really matter, because this doesn't mean we have seen the end of the fantasy games. The developers are simply taking a break as they have been working on fantasy since the company's inception!.

Secondly, the game is using the same mechanics we associate with AoW. The world map and combat systems return, even the amazing campaigns and modding tools are all a heavy focus of the devs. We are basically looking at a beefier AoWs game given a sci-fi spin. And I don't know about you, but as Im still immensely enjoying AoWIII, I am so happy to have a different type of game to enjoy alongside its fantasy counterpart.

Finally, the game has the same team behind it that worked on all of the previous Age of Wonders games. The same nerds who designed the mechanics, who wrote the story and who composed the score. They are passionate about sci-fi in the same way they are passionate about fantasy and at its very heart, that is something to be looking forward to!

Ok! So the future is bright - but what about the game!? Well, it's sounding like the natural evolution of the AoWIII formula, with each featured beefed up to the max.

What we have come to expect remains:

The `race & class´ combo returns with a few changes. Now its `faction & technology´ and your choice of race will be much more important than it was in AoWIII.

However, entirely new species have been created just for this game and while some of them share similar traits and characteristics compared to the classics such as dwarves, they all have something that separates them from their fantasy counterparts.

The world map and expansion system makes its return too, with a few improvements. The entire map is now broken into sectors, each one specialising in something different. One of them may allow you to establish a new settlement, while another can be bolted onto a previous settlements domain, unlocking new features. The idea is fascinating and should help to both speed up the game, while making empire management both more engaging and entertaining.

A human looking settlement with a human guardian & new artwork throughout the image! Checkout all those lovely looking sectors around the place too, oozing with loreful names.

The game engine has received a massive overhaul as now everything is much more focused around long range combat. This has changed the flow of the game and new mechanics have been introduced that keep things interesting. Including the return of flying units!

More critical decisions have been added to the games world map, to counterbalance the already amazing combat side of the series:

Colony management is more involved, with a population points system that can be moved around within a sector to specialise in certain areas increasing productivity where needed.

An enhanced diplomacy system is woven into more areas of the game and further increases the fun factor on the world map.

A new unit blueprint system has been introduced, unlocking the ability to create multiple versions of the same base unit - using different loadouts. For example a marine with a anti-infantry or anti-heavy weapon.

The game isnt even in an alpha state yet and I am already falling all over it with joy at the information that has leaked out over the past few weeks. So far so good. There are still many areas of the game we know so little about, but if you want to find a run down on all the information we do know, keep reading for a full list.

Check the 6 different logos painted on the walls. Perhaps these represent something... a form of Easter Egg perhaps of the 6 races logos? Who knows

Publishing features

Main Website

Announcement Trailer

Release Date: Circa 2019

Platforms: PC, Mac & Console

Sound Designer: Michiel Van Den Bos

Story Designer: Ray Bingham

Blurbs:
- eXplore: Uncover the history of the fallen galactic empire as you explore lush landscapes. Encounter NPC factions and rival houses, and discover hidden technologies that can strengthen your society.
- eXpand:Create your own unique House, and build prosperous colonies through economic specializations of planetary sectors and governing doctrines.
- eXploit: Achieve your end goals through conquest, diplomacy or doomsday technologies. Engrossing options with NPC factions and rival Houses won't make the decisions easy!
- eXterminate:Perfect your combat strategy in intense turn-based battles that offer tactical challenges, a large cast of races, units with customizable weapons, and destructible environments.

The dead skeleton from the trailer video, does that flower mean something? Who knows!

Thematic Info

It's still an Age of Wonders game, however technology replaces most magical abilities. There are also psychic races that help to represent magical abilities.

The game is using a custom mythological science-fiction setting, based around a long forgotten fallen empire called the Star Union. It is unknown whether or not it is set within the same universe, however, the races are certainly unique to this game.

Consider the setting a blend of Alpha Centauri & Fallout on a vastly increased scale, featuring multiple worlds all secreting away old technology among various other mysteries of the Star Union.

Core gameplay features

6 Major Races

5 Dwelling Races (an expanded independent factions system which is akin to Dwellings of AoW3 or the Spirits of AoW2)

A secret/ancient technology system in place of the class system from AoW3

A sector system that covers the world, defining what you can encounter, connected to the Random Map Generator system

Procedural generation both in skirmish and campaign modes

Considerably larger world & battle maps, compared to previous editions of AoW

A module & blueprint system allowing you to customize units, keeping low-tier units competitive throughout the game

New resource systems that make empire building and management more engaging

A relatively rare resource, Cosmite, designed to manage the frequency of tier 3, and especially tier 4, units, as well as several high end technologies, that can be fielded has been introduced, but details are not finalized.

A revamped diplomacy to incorporate various new systems of the game

Hero & Leader Units with an expanded mount system

A strong focus on ranged combat and tactical elevation

The return of adjacent hex rule (to bring multiple armies into battle) and of a maximum stack size of 6 units

All of the usual multiplayer modes we have come to expect from the AoW series, with a max player count of 12

Terraforming both the world and battle map

Combat

6 different damage types (or weapon groups) exist: Kinetic/Explosive/Laser/Biochemical/Psionic/Arc

The racial weapon techs (primary researched weapon tech types, but not necessarily the only damage type a faction will deal) follows this matrix:

Vanguard: Kinetic/Laser

Dvar: Kinetic/Explosive

Kir'Ko: Psionic/Biochemical

Amazon: Laser/Biochemical

Assembly: Kinetic//Arc

Syndicate: Psionic/Arc

No faction at release uses Laser/Arc, because "The lack of flexibility the race would face might be problematic."

Compared to previous AoW, the following comparisons can be made:

Kinetic is roughly Physical damage

Explosive is (likely) a split between Physical/Fire (Thermal)

Laser is roughly Fire (Thermal) damage

Biochemical is roughly Acid/Poison damage

Psionic is roughly Spirit damage

Psionic damage ignores armour rating, and is only reduced by shield rating and Psionic resistance.

Arc is roughly Lightning/Shock damage

Currently, no unit uses multi-channel damage abilities, but the game does support multi-channel attacks.

There is no deployment phase, however the battlefields are now considerably larger, containing interactive objects that can be used for cover and even be destroyed under sustained heavy fire.

Defender moves first when combat is engaged. Only the Attacker may retreat.

With larger battlefields, a stronger focus is placed on ranged combat than ever before. This has allowed permanently air born units (who can't be hit by land melee units) to make a return to the game.

Flying units can fly over ground units on the same hex.

You can also use large vehicles or even summoned interactables such as a drop-pod as cover, gaining a boost to your defenses.

Impassible terrain can only be flown or floated over in combat, with some rare units being able to move through obstacles.

Technology replaces magic: Now called `Operations´, You can call in off-screen assistance in the form of; artillery and orbital bombardments, marine drop pods, napalm style attacks, and much much more.

Natural Terrain & Tactical Elevation: Citadels, Biodomes, Terraces and more. While nothing has yet been set in stone, raised and lowered elements of terrain is planned and should affect cover, hit chances, movement, the value of flying units, etc.

Sieges: The siege system has been redesigned. We know maps are much larger now and that elevation now plays an effect. Attacking from building terraces was discussed.

Combat between a Promethean Phoenix Walker and some sort of Promethean Infantry and a Xenoplague Plaguelord

Defense Mode: Provides a 25% reduction in hit chance against the unit.

Ranged Overwatch:

Uses your remaining action points to enter overwatch and aim a cone of fire in a given direction.

The unit will fire upon any enemies which enter said cone of fire (even if they are behind cover), a number of times equal to the amount of action points it had remaining.

Primarily available to 'rifleman' and 'sniper' styled units, although generally defensive units may qualify for it as well.

Benefits from a hidden bonus to allow Overwatch attacks to suffer less some of the accuracy penalties from long range and cover.

Melee Overwatch:

Melee units go into a melee range overwatch at the end of their turn, even if they took an action that turn.

Provides a free attack against any unit which attempts to move past them or fire at them in melee.

It is not confirmed if this drains their action points, but it likely will.

Stagger:

Impact attacks can stagger units and break their Overwatch stance.

High impact attacks break Overwatch of Light units.

Massive impact a ttacks are needed to break the Overwatch of Heavy units.

Units who get staggered in the middle of an action will be interrupted after their first attack or step is taken:

A moving unit will stop with no move points left and might end up out of cover.

An attacking unit will stop attacking and lose the unused attacks from the remaining action points it had.

Action Points: A similar system to that of AoW3, however draining action points works a little different now that ranged combat reigns supreme.
- Certain attacks and abilities can stagger an opponent which knocks them out of stances like overwatch or guard mode and also drains them of their action points too.

Hit Chance: `Controlled randomness´ A combination of AoW2s hit chance and AoW3s Action Points has resulted in the chance to

Hit for full damage

Graze for half damage (up to 25% chance)

Miss for no damage

These will likely result in much more countering and careful advances than previously with an increased focus on ranged units that should make this quite an interesting and fun addition.

Accuracy:

Default, unmodified, accuracy of basic rifle like the Vanguard T1's rifle will likely be 90%

Long range attacks have lower accuracy

Targeting units under cover also lowers accuracy; smokescreens can be deployed to create cover

While combat concealment did not make it into the game, there are things like long grass which will provide a defensive bonus to Light units(accuracy penalty for enemies), while instead being destroyed by Heavy units if the tile is entered

Shooting at units at lower height than oneself increases accuracy

It is not entirely confirmed, but it is at least implied that successive shots, and possibly Overwatch in general, experience accuracy penalties

Example: for an accuracy of 80%, the hit chance is 80%, the graze chance is 20% and the miss chance is 0%. For an accuracy of 40%: hit 40%, graze 25% and miss 35%.

Damage calculation

Each additional resistance point reduces damage by 10% compared to the damage without this extra point, so additional resistance has diminishing returns.

The formula is D = I + (I x (1 - 0.9^-R)) with I = Incoming damage D = Actual damage taken R = Damage resistance (sum of shields, armour and elemental resistance)

The shield value is ignored by melee attacks.

Armour and shield values can be reduced, but not into the negatives. Elemental weaknesses are the only way to use the damage formula as a damage amplifier (for instance Thermal Weakness 5 means that 5 is subtracted from your armour/shield value, and that result can be negative).

The first few points of resistance reduce damage by roughly 10% each, but as more is stacked, this decreases rapidly. The difference between 10 and 11 resistance is only 4% for instance of the incoming damage.

Flanking

Deals +20% damage

Also triggers damage bonus (e.g. Exposed Flank or Flanker abilities)

Ranges (hexes)

Short: 3

Medium: 5

Long: 7

Extreme: 9

Insta-death abilities

Some abilities can instantly kill enemy units (like Invoke Death in AoW3). For instance the Plasma Disintegrator Module is an end game module for laser weaponry, allowing attacks to strip armour and giving a chance to insta-kill tier 1 and 2 units.

Races (6)

Each race is designed around its own unique set of mechanics.

Different primary races will each provide unique playing experience through different:

Structures

Racial economic bonuses

Doctrines

8 Modules (for each race)

Operations, etc.

Each race will provide 11 stock units: 8 ground/air faction-specific units, 2 faction-specific naval units, and a Colonizer.

The Vanguard

Are an old expeditionary task force that were sent out to claim new worlds on the frontier of the Union. The Vanguard are hardened pioneers and marines with few ties to the old world; the effects of time dilation matter little to them. When they arrived at their destination and emerged from cryo-stasis, the Vanguard found out the Nexus had gone black, and they had no way to return. In the time they had been traveling, the empire they were sworn to protect had fallen. Because of this delay, the Vanguard resemble imperial forces from before the fall.

The Vanguard specialize in drones and autonomous robots.

Their faction leader is called Jack Gelder, his city is called Fort Gelder.

Favoured terrain: Arcadian

Known Units:

Very weak offensively (4 power Thermal damage, multi-fire ranged attack)

Flying

May have innate stealth detection.

Increases the accuracy of allies against targets it attacks, or it has a specific ability to increase the accuracy of allies against a given target.

An OWL upgrading: its modules are de-activated for 1 turn

Marine

Liberator

Gunship

Assault Bike

A high speed vehicle designed to engage enemy units at medium to close range, it mounts powerful, high impact laser weaponry but sacrifices armor along its flanks to make up for it

Exposed Flanks: loses two points of armour when flanked

Focused Laser Array: medium range, single target attack, moderate amount of thermal damage; High Impact attack which knocks Light Units into an adjacent hex

Wild Laser Array: fire over the 7 hexes directly in front of it; stagger enemy unit it hits

Stagger Resistant (originates from Heavy Unit): can only be staggered by Massive Impact attacks

Tank

Mech Walker

Their engineer unit can deploy a turret

Their T4 specializes in launching various types of drones in combat to provide defensive and offensive support. It is possibly flying. Possibly similar to a Star Craft Protoss carrier, in function, but certainly not visual style, since this is Vanguard.

Humans, and some weird tiny units in the background (look over the guy in the coats right shoulder!) which are probably the Kir'Ko Ravenous and Frenzied .

The Amazons

A re a brutal race of warrior women who biologically enhanced themselves as well as savage alien races to use as their tools, in an effort to better crush their foes.

They have been described as an all female nation of MMA fighters, riding brutal dinosaurs into battle.

A parallel has been drawn between them and elves.

Inherent traits:

Favoured terrain: Arcadian.

Forest Affinity: provides a morale bonus in forests (potentially stacking with their Arcardian favored terrain when applicable) .

Expedited Movement (Forest): allows faster movement through forests.

Known units

Lancer

Typically deployed to patrol the vast forests where the Amazon`s conduct their research, Lancers are the pinnacle of self sufficiency.

Its melee attack Staggers opponents.

Energy Buckler: gives the Lancer its 3 Shield but not against flanking attacks.

Flanker: provides a bonus +25% damage on Flanking attacks, in addition to the base +20%, for a total of +45% damage

The Dvar

Are a faction of planetary miners who entered the most hostile places in space using their powerful suits to shield themselves from radiation, heat, etc. during the Star Unions reign.

Now, nobody knows exactly what they look like, as they live within their suits, and you never see their faces. It's like... do Dwarven women exist `AoWP´ style!

Even when you customize their appearance, you're customizing the eye holes, adding an exhaust or an extra tube, etc.

Their methods are based around explosives, tectonic shifts, etc. and so their battlefield mechanics are themed around area of effects and staggering opponents.

Dvar commonly have 24 base speed. A sort of slow but strong thematic army approach to their design.

Inherent traits:

Favoured terrain: Arid.

Known units:

Bulwark

Dedicated gunnery platform designed to guard Dvar facilities against thieves and aggressive native fauna.

Unlimited Overwatch: allows a full three shots against all targets that enter their cone of fire when in Ranged Overwatch, regardless of the remaining action points.

Concussive Volley: long range, extremely (currently at 96% against a Lancer) high success rate single target stun ability, which lasts only for the turn of impact, designed to setup another ally to take advantage of the automatic flanking damage.

Through some visual trickery the Dvar Tier IV actually looks like it is taking up 7 hexes.
Possibly some form of artillery.

The Assembly

Represent both a brutish orclike race, as well as a skittish goblinoid people. They have also been heavily modified and many of their body parts have been replaced with mechanical legs or even tentacles.

One of their units can take apart corpses and rebuild them into spider bomb robots.

Humanoid, with many mechanical parts, including tendrils/tentacle-like protrusions: an Assembly unit?

The Kir´ko

Are a race of rational, sapient and psionic insectoids that were once enslaved by the Star Union, giving them a bad predisposition towards human houses

Inherent traits:

Swarm Shield: gains a non-stacking bonus of +2 shields when adjacent to other Kir'Ko units

Rapid Regeneration: heals +6 bonus HP per strategic turn on the world map

Favoured terrain: Fungal

Known Units:

Hidden:

One of the descendents of the Kir`ko queens, who were wiped out by the Star Union. Bred as guerilla fighters, the Hidden championed the cause of Kir`ko rebellion from the shadows. As with all Kir`ko females, the Hidden have powerful psionic abilities, which they use to both attack and elude their foes.

Defense Mode: Evasion: provides a further 25% reduction on top of normal Defense Mode, for a total of -50% chance to be hit.

Universal Camouflage: grants concealment on all terrain types.

Shrouded Step: ability similar to Shadow Step in AoW3: teleports the unit at short range and also creates an accuracy-reducing smoke cloud in the target and all adjacent hexes upon arrival.

Psi-Rifle: uses all the action points.

Psi-Rifle Snap Shot: can be used after moving.

Improved Overwatch: gets an accuracy bonus for overwatch shots.

The Kir'Ko equivalent of the Vanguard Marine is called a Frenzied, a melee unit who gains a bonus for each attack it makes.

The Kir'Ko equivalent of the Vanguard Tank is called a Ravenous. Mechanically similar to the Harvester from AoW:SM, it is a melee unit which can eat units whole and then lay eggs to spawn new units of their own.

The Syndicate

Very little is known about them other than they are currently using an eastern architecture design and are rumored to be themed around slavery.

Syndicate (left) and Amazons (right)

Secret Technology `Classes`

You choose one out of six types of secret technology that you start the game with.

This determines your research and `class`-based abilities, modules, doctrines, operations and units. Each Secret Tech also has a unique Victory Condition.

Every Secret Tech will provide a race with around 4 additional unique racial units.

You can unlock additional secret technologies from `old tech black sites´ scattered throughout the maps.

Secret Tech selection will be hidden to other players (they can of course guess it when they see you using units or other elements from the Secret Tech).

Promethean Technology Designed to destroy enemy of the Star Union from within or without.

The Promethean specialize in Thermal weapons that leave areas of the battlefield on fire, providing area denial abilities. They can also mod their units to be immune to this fire, or even gain buffs from it, allowing them to reshape the battlefield to their advantage.

Promethean's icon

Xenoplague Technology

Biochemical damage.

Unknown! We need more info.

Psynumbra

Psionic damage.

VoidTech

Possibly Kinetic damage.

Voidtech's icon

Two more secret tech, yet unknown.

Icon of one of the two secret tech to be revealed, mentioned as "the opposite of Psynumbra".

Planetary `NPC´Natives
Wildlife Independents

These are the mindless and disorganized units that you will be encountering throughout the maps, that do not belong to an empire.

The confirmed units so far are Giant killer insects and the Quartzinites: A varied race of creatures made from types of stone.

Marauders

Marauder Bases are the term given for spawner sites of various roaming independents. Similarly, Marauder is an umbrella term for the monsters and pirates that are beyond reason and cannot be negotiated with, not a true NPC Faction.

Marauder units include:

Hopperhound: similar to a giant locust, with the ability to jump and rip through (shred? ignore?) armour.

Non-Primary Combatants (NPC) Factions

The independent faction system from AoW3 has been fleshed out and are planned to have a more important role within the game.

They are intended to represent the people that survived the fall of the Star Union, but are not powerful enough to amass system or even planet wide control.

NPC Diplomacy and Quests

Each NPC Faction has its own set of quests and narrative flavour.

Quests can even include economic quests requiring you to spend time producing a quest objective in one of your settlements.

With good influence and relationship, you can ask for NPC to give up important structures for you to use. You can negotiate otherwise friendly faction site defenders to move away at an influence cost, varying by the level of your relationship and your general reputation level.

If you decide to remove an army belonging to an NPC faction by force, it means war with the entire faction and a hit on your global reputation.

Just as AI Players, NPC factions lay claim to unowned Sectors around their habitats.

NPC factions will make demands based on their relation with you and based on the stage of the game. Small and early offenses can be made right by payments in one of the key resources. Soon demands will escalate and include demands that you hand over sectors to them. If you decline demands, relations will go further south and you are at risk of attack.

NPC Factions have no direct relations with each other, but may provide quests which impact player relations with other factions.

A NPC faction's Quest

NPC Unit Rosters and Assets

Each NPC Faction has at least 5 unique units, including a Tier IV.

It also has a set of unique Mods and Operations you can acquire from them.

As with other mods, they will have requisite unit identifiers, such as Infantry, Biological or Mechanical.

Depending on your relation level you can recruit NPC Units as auxiliary forces. The higher your relation, the higher the level you can recruit. This recruitment costs additional influence.

NPC relation of other players can be influenced through Covert Ops and play a role in achieving particular victory conditions.

NPC Attack Events

NPC factions can launch invasion attacks associated with events. An extreme version of NPC attack events are Boss events, extra strong armies that have named Boss characters with high level unit mods and henchmen.

An NPC Boss Army alert (Highly WIP)

Dwellings

Strongly defended, relatively permanent structures (presumably they may still be subject to being razed).

Usually multiple per map.

Can and will lay claims on surrounding sectors.

Dwelling can be annexed to your cities like other sectors. They have resource yields comparable with the Golden Landmarks (the highest-level economic structures in the game), and they unlock the production of units of the faction.

NPC faction (forward) bases

A lesser form of dwellings.

Usually multiple are scattered around a dwelling, not necessarily attached.

Temporary structures (removed if cleared), similar to a spawning site in AoW3.

Can be cleared by either combat or diplomatic means.

If made sufficiently hostile, they will spawn stacks to attack the player instead (similar to Brigand spawners when hostile).

Relations with them are influenced (and possibly influence as well) by relations with that NPC-faction as a whole (such as the dwelling).

With unique combat maps.

Can occupy sectors and prevent settling in said sectors.

Patrols: guard territory around dwellings.

Raiding Armies: attack enemy territory; originate from dwellings or bases.

Boss Armies: high level raiding armies.

The RMG associates particular assets with NPC factions.

For instance, Growth has particular tentacle hexes and particular resources and Hazards near its areas based on their theme. NPC factions have a noisy clustering, meaning a Dwelling + Bases + Resource Guards don't sit in a clumped ball on a map, but territory has holes and mixes with other NPC factions

Â Paragons

The Union`s privileged citizens and praetorian military. Named after the Paragon Augmentations company that provided them with the extensive bionic implants that unnaturally extended their lives. Their life-extending augmentations and therapies which are now faltering. They haven`t lost their arrogance and entitlement though.

Approaching a Paragon Dwelling with a Colonizer.

Paragon units (including probably a Paragon transport moving a Vanguard unit)

Growth

Intelligent plants escaped from biotech company Terra Tech. They strive to live in a symbiosis with other life forms, not for people with tenctaclephobia.

Spacers

Mutated descendants of the urban populations. Their society and religion were shaped by gaming culture, as the empire population was entertained extreme VR experiences. With the networks gone, they seek their thrills in the physical world.

A Spacer caught on camera?

Automons

Robots from the emergency services that have developed their own autonomous AIs after the central network of CORE went down.

Psi-Fish (also called "Space Jellyfish" :silly

Mysterious floating aliens that have become more prevalent after the collapse.

Psi Fish units

NPC factions can be controlled in the RMG, but details on how (just frequency, or even type?) were not provided. Apparently not all NPC types will exist together on a normal planet.

Technology and research

Players will have limited access to the tech trees of other main faction races they acquire in their empire.

The tech tree is divided into a yet unknown number of tiers.

There are some tech progression dependencies but (so far) only within the same tech type, creating "Tech Paths", displayed in distinct colours (see screenshot below).

Military and Society technologies are separated form each other, but now also researched simultaneously.

Techs have tag identifiers under their name denoting Forces/Tactical/Strategic/etc.

Unit characteristics

Units are classified as Biological or Mechanical. This influences the module they can use.

Mechanical Units automatically have 4 Psionic Resistance and 2 Arc Weakness, similar to Machines having Spirit protection (immunity) and Shock/Fire Weakness in AoW3. Biomechanical attacks have been stated to include such effects as armour-shredding acid, being designed as a counter to the generally highly-armoured Mechanical units.

Some units are classified with the 'Core' trait.

While unconfirmed, it is noted that of the revealed units, only T1 units so far have been Core, and one can extrapolate that 'Core' units are likely the units available to be produced by a faction without requiring further research.

Different sizes:

Light Unit

Heavy Unit

Standard property given to most vehicles and larger units.

Gives Stagger resistance (staggered only by Massive impact attacks).

The unit will not turn to face its attacker when shot at.

An undetermined title, but at least one larger size

So far, this primarily appears to relate to Impact/Stagger effects, with Heavy Units having Stagger Resistance which counters High Impact, but not Massive Impact strikes. Also, Heavy units do not turn to react to flanking strikes.

A 'Large Target' trait also exists. It is presumed to relate to the fact that you can now aim at units later in a line, and have a chance to hit any of the targets, with a multi-shot attack. Large Target in this case, would likely make the given unit more likely to be struck, making it an effective blocker unit.

Unit Blueprint & Module system:
- A fairly unique system whereby you research `modules` based each of which can only be applied to specific unit types.
- Modules originate from your race (8 per race), Secret Tech, Weapon Tech (around 7 per weapon group), NPC-factions, secondary-acquired races (and possibly even Landmark fans hope).
- Units can have up to 3 modules.
- In order to build units using those modules, you need to design a blueprint or template which you can name, and then build its `prototype`.
  - Each new unit of that type built after the prototype will use the set design and previously built units can be also be upgraded to that design too.
- This lets you develop and field various versions of the same stock unit, each specialized to counter a specific threat. This also means that through micromanagement, you can choose to field low tier units and keep them competitive throughout the game, instead of relying on high tier units as soon as they become available.
- It's worth noting that some races modules can be used by multiple races, while others are locked to only a themselves. Such as Amazons using Vanguard guns, while only the Kir`ko can use their organic weapons.
- The mods equipped by a unit can be changed (upgrading) or new mods can be added to a unit having few or none (retrofitting): this takes time (at least 1 turn) and also disables all current mods for the duration of the upgrade process.

Experience and ranks

Currently, unit rank ups are primarily set to increase health and accuracy values, with the unit module system designed to provide extra abilities to units. The devs have looked into providing enhanced modifiers towards a unit's core trait purpose, though, at higher ranks. Bonus towards a Bulwark's Overwatch, or a Lancer's flanking effectiveness, for example.

Endless champion medals are not in right now, but might come back. High-end mods are relied on to make early game units viable.

Boss units

Should exxist outside the standard unit tier ratings

Found within certain exploration sites, and special spawner events, such as NPC attack events.

Unit icons updated on the go: a snapshot renderer will update units' icons based on the modules they use, etc. It will also save icon creation time for modders.

Strategic (world) map

Your settlements now spawn their own set of defenders, meaning you no longer need to place a world map army on the side to have a garrisoned force during tactical combat.

You can increase the levels of protection through buildings, such as city-wide shields.

Sector System:
- The entire map is now broken up into named sectors (a similar game mechanics to the Mystical City Upgrades from AoW3), and a single sector can be as large as an AoW3 cities domain.
- Different sector types:

Sunshine Synthetics Biodomes:

Primary income attribute: growth

May be affiliated with the Growth NPC faction

Perpetual Spark Generator:

Primary income attribute: energy

May be affiliated with the Autonom NPC faction

Inverse Relativity Center:

Primary income attribute: knowledge

Dwelling Sectors: Contain the bases and cities of NPC Natives. Smaller spawner-like camps you can clear through diplomacy or force. Larger habitats work like landmarks in the sense they they occupy a sector.

Sectors may provide unique story content, such as quests and side missions.

Additional Structures and Effects: Next to sector occupying Landmark and bases, there is a collection of secondary structures to be found. They include resource nodes, pickups and visit sites. Then there are defenses and hazards that work as status effects for the entire sector.

Colonies are expanded by adding sectors to them, these sectors can subsequently be specialized in one of the main resource types and further upgraded. Landmark Sectors provide unique benefits to the colonies. Higher level landmarks unlock new city upgrades, or unlock new Doctrines.

The number of sectors a colony can annex is dependent on population level, as well as research allowing you to settle certain types.

Players may lay claim to lands by building Forward Bases in sectors. Sectors can also be captured and traded individually.

Forward basis cost rather than yield resources.

A Sector Analysis screen will detail information related to each sector: structures, incomes, and unlockable Doctrines (primarily for Landmark Sectors), etc.

The Sector Analysis panel on the right, with doctrines presumably unlocked by the Xeno Life Institute (Cosmite here has its old name of Crystal)

Scanning

Sectors will project a scan range into surrounding sectors' fog of war, and possibly beyond, giving identifying markers for site defenders (Neutrals) and aggressive independent or enemy unit stacks.

Research, varying by faction to some degree, can influence the scanning distance and details given, but research can also inhibit enemy scanning abilities, depending on what your faction has available.

Concealed units avoid being revealed by scanning by default, and structures such as the Shroud Station project a scanning-resistant fog of war similar to the Domain of Darkness of Age of Wonders 2. There are even Operations to conceal sectors (or units).

Scanners will not show an overall detection radius by default, but it may be added in as a toggle.

Scanner identifying hostiles in the fog of war

Note the yellow markers in the fog of war

Terraforming on the world map makes a return, including the ability to lower and raise terrain and likely even erecting new mountains altogether.

The world map is based around a single planet, though the campaign will span an entire system or even galaxy.

Various map layers, such as underground, shadow realm, atmosphere and orbit are in a concept phase at the moment and may not make it into the game at all. *sad face*

The world map is still square, but it now loops around on the west-east axis. Letting you continue marching in one of those directions without stopping.

There are five main land biomes + oceans. Planets are thus made of frozen wastes, lush jungles, and deserts, with their own alien flora and fauna.

The different biomes have varied resource yields to be exploited through research.

Planets can be created from templates or the player can adjust settings (including the amount of Star Union Ruins for instance).

All procedural generated planets get a name and are plotted on the Star Union`s galaxy map.

Movement and healing

Standard move speed values are 24/32/40.

Being within Friendly Territory causes a unit to recover +6 HP per strategic game turn. It has been implied, but not outright confirmed, this may be the only way for units to normally regain health, applying a form of attrition to the game. It is notable that this healing also applies for units tagged as Mechanical.

Pickups on the world map can sometimes trigger bonus events with a multiple choice selection of actions/rewards to be taken from them. These bonus events are always positive in some way, to avoid ambushes on scout units getting the pickups.

Example of pickup events

Hazards

Hazards are a new type of hex occurrence which drastically reduce the income of sectors they are in, and have negative effects on units nearby.

They require special researched technology to be removed.

Examples include:

Nuclear Craters

Void Rifts

Biowar Residues

Abyssal Tear:

This sector contains a Tear into the Abyss, through with its influence seeps into this world.

This sector generates 50% less income.

Units do not regain health out of combat.

Non-Psynumbra units suffer a -3 reduction to Vision and Sensor range.

Non-Mindless, Non-Psunumbra units suffer -300 Morale.

Psynumbra marauders spawn from here, raiding their surroundings.

Economy

Resource bar icons (left to right). Energy, Cosmite, Knowledge, Influence, Global Morale, Tactical Operations (Tac Ops), Strategic Operations (Strat Ops), Doctrines. Reputation is next to leader face. The city banner of Gelderland shows from left to right: icon representing the current item in production, a small number indicating time remaining on production (3 turns), a large number for the current population level (13), a small number indicating time until population grows (1 turn). Hope you have good eyes!

Energy is the main universal currency in the game. It is used for the production and upkeep of units, colony structures, unit modules and operations. Energy is generated by your colonies. It can be traded, and can be found as nodes and pickups on the map.

Cosmite is a rare material, which has an origin beyond the void and is required for advanced units (T3 and especiall T4), unit modules and potentially some Operations and special structures. Cosmite is mainly gained from map nodes (Craters!). The rarity of this material means that high tier units can`t be mass produced and Sectors containing Cosmite are highly contested.

Cosmite may or may not have some depletion mechanic, but is currently leaning heavily towards being balanced by income versus costs.

Influence is the diplomatic currency used to manipulate other players and NPC factions, it can be used for things like asking NPCs to surrender locations, hire NPC mercenaries, and to make diplomatic pronouncements. Influence is gained by performing Quests and from an inherent generation of your empire. Cooperative Doctrines and friendly play styles give bonuses on Influence generation.

Quest for The Growth NPC Faction with influence among the rewards.

Reputation determines how other Empires and NPC factions see you. Reputation modifies your Influence gains and Global Morale. Similar to AoW3`s alignment, your Reputation is influenced by your in-game actions.

Knowledge is used to conduct research (rediscover and apply the lost technologies of the Star Union).

Tactical Operations points are used to launch Operations you can call in during tactical combat (Air strikes, Psi Storms, etc), when a battle takes place within your Operational Coverage. The Tac Ops value resets every turn.

Strategic Operations can used on the world map. Strategic Operations include summons, sector (de-)buffs, and covert actions.

Doctrine slots determines the amount of global doctrines (e.g. empire wide bonuses) you can have active at once.

More doctrines will be available than you can pick: choices will need to be made.

Global Morale is the overall morale of your empire. It affects Unit Morale and the Happiness of your colonists. It is influenced by the wars you enter and how justified they are perceived to be. Note there are more variables but they are not global. Like colony food and production capacity.

Colony Management & Resources:
- Excess production and research points will overflow so as to not go wasted.
- Roads are now automatically built between your settlements / sectors.
- Sectors yield special resources and the terrain or biome a sector is based on determines the types of bonuses available.
- What these resources do exactly is unknown, but they will provide some form of benefit based on the settlement its attached to. This makes it vital to snake your empire across a map, to soak up these resources into your sector chain, effecting each settlement within.
- A new system has been introduced that allows you to designate what your Colonists (population) are working on, to better exploit these resources.
  - A new settlement will start off with a few Colonists. Colonists from all sectors are pooled together and can be assigned to specific tasks. Such as:
    - Working towards increasing the food stores which helps with settlement growth.
    - Sending your workers to the factories will increase production speed.
- This seems like an an improved version of the old settlement build queues, seemingly allowing you to work on multiple things at once by moving people around to speed up certain outputs.
- Colonist assignment is fairly straightforward and can be fully automated. Colonists act as wiggle room in the economy (on top of flat income sources). Colonists are assigned per resource channel (and not per sector or per tile).

Command Point & High Tier Unit System:

Command points are assumed to work like casting points, without drawing from a pool of mana.

They let you use special abilities during combat or on the world map and reset upon the beginning of each new turn.

Victory conditions

Allied victory is evidently available

Last Man Standing: self-explanatory, classical victory

Domination: a certain percentage (likely 60~70%+) of the map control is under control

Doomsday (Technological victory):
- Little is known, but these are presumed win conditions for a Skirmish game and a campaigns end goal.
  - There are at least a few different versions, one for each Secret Tech, of these `super weapons´ around and they are supposed to be so powerful that they could have wiped out the entirety of the Star Union.
  - Converting to a hive mind was hinted at as the level of power to be expected by these super weapons.
  - Another was the Genoplague (which may be a simple high tier `spell´), which lets you mutate soldiers or even an entire colony with a virus that rewrites their DNA.
    - Rewriting colonist DNA could change how they deal with the environment they live in,
    - Rewriting soldiers DNA could result in them becoming freakish monsters, able to stab enemies with their sharp but fleshy appendages.
- Opponents will get multiple notices about the proximity of a player reaching Doomsday victory

Racial Victory Conditions may exist in a future expansion, but are likely to be a toggle option off by default at best, for multiplayer, due to asymmetry.

Diplomacy

Happiness & Alignment & Diplomacy Mechanics:

These are all now interwoven, being either revamped or entirel y rebranded versions of previous systems.

Happiness should work `better than in AoW3´ on both the tactical and world maps, while alignment is heavily woven back into the diplomacy system.

Racial happiness is influenced by your actions toward each race.

Threats, costing Influence, can be added to diplomatic requests. Declining can give the opponent casus belli.

Available diplomatic requests include:

Open Borders (unlimited or for a fixed duration)

Truce (unlimited or for a fixed duration)

Defensive Pact: you get involved in a war only if your ally is the one attacked, but not if your ally is an aggressor.

(Full) Alliance

Other players can become your Vassal. Vassalage is currently permanent, with no way for the Vassal to end the relationship on their end without their 'Ruler' being defeated.

Players automatically lay claim to sectors next to their borders. Settling in it, gives a casus belli unless you have treaties. You can extend claims by building forward bases.

Settling near other players or NPC factions will damage relationship with them

Character customization

Your leader unit in both the campaign and skirmish maps are referred to as a Commander, instead of a Wizard, Leader, Rogue, Dreadnought, etc.

Campaign leaders can be visually customized.

Commander selection screen. Secret Techs should also be displayed on the portraits on the left at game release.

Perks and vices:

AoW:SM style perks are back for Commanders.

Three types of perks can be chosen:

Background: empire bonuses

Star Union Scholar: researches Secret Techs faster and also gets bonus rewards from pickups and treasure sites.

Colony Supplement: extra starting bonus, such as basic structures in your settlement.

Cryopods: extra starting population.

Energy Cache: extra starting Energy.

Personal Loadout: starting gear and combat skills for the commander. Sniper for long range, assault for short range, close combat specialist for melee and pilot for a starting vehicle, are the currently known types.

Vices: penalties of varying intensities to obtain extra perk points in exchange.

Kleptomaniac: lower your empire's energy income, but also gives your leader a free piece of random starting equipment.

List of perks on the right, during Commander customization.

House System:
- Triumph Studios have stated that they are unhappy with it and as with everything else at this point, is subject to change or even entire removal. The idea would be to create your own `house´ and play under its banner. How this affects the game is completely unknown at this point.

Campaign

The Random Map Generator is hooked into all areas of the game, including the campaign for maximum levels of replayability. Core sectors will remain the same for plot reasons, but what you find in between may be different every time you restart the map. What is loaded into these sectors is likely dependent on your difficulty settings.

`Each campaign has you resettle a single world, which is procedural generated according to your inputs.´ <source>

Similar to previous AoW campaigns, you can choose which of the factions you want to play as at set points within the campaign.

In an interview we are perhaps given the indication that you can choose which type of map you want to deploy on next, through your choices and the use of the Random Map Generator:
- ` Table of content
  Introduction by iHunterKiller
  Publishing features
  Thematic information
  Core gameplay features
  Combat
  Races (6)
  Secret Technology `Classes´
  Planetary `NPC´ Natives
  Technology and research
  Unit characteristics
  Strategic (world) map
  Victory conditions
  Diplomacy
  Character customization
  Campaign
  Modding & Mapping
  Story Information
  Technical specifications
  Misc
  
  Introduction by iHunterKiller
  I was only a young child the first time I played a game in the Age of Wonders series. The famed AoWII demo disk from a popular UK gaming magazine that featured a map with Yaka and his tigrans facing off against Meandor and Julias respective elven factions.
  
  I ended up playing the AoW games everyday after school which helped to spark the inner TBS gamer within me. Fast forward many years and I was overjoyed to be involved in the first wave of beta testing for AoWIII.
  
  All of this backstory is simply to say that I hold the series near to my heart, and so as you can imagine, I was very skeptical of the announcement for the new game. A sci-fi game.. using the Age of Wonders prefix? Thats.. Blasphemy! Did your new parent company force you into this decision!!? My mind started racing to very nefarious places during that initial live stream.
  
  However, while we don't have a whole lot of information yet, I have spent a fair amount of time gathering up everything we do have and suffice it to say, I am intrigued and cant help but find myself feeling positive for the future of the series.
  
  Let me tell you why.
  
  First of all, we don't know whether or not the sci-fi and fantasy universes are one and the same, but either way, it doesn't really matter, because this doesn't mean we have seen the end of the fantasy games. The developers are simply taking a break as they have been working on fantasy since the company's inception!.
  
  Secondly, the game is using the same mechanics we associate with AoW. The world map and combat systems return, even the amazing campaigns and modding tools are all a heavy focus of the devs. We are basically looking at a beefier AoWs game given a sci-fi spin. And I don't know about you, but as Im still immensely enjoying AoWIII, I am so happy to have a different type of game to enjoy alongside its fantasy counterpart.
  
  Finally, the game has the same team behind it that worked on all of the previous Age of Wonders games. The same nerds who designed the mechanics, who wrote the story and who composed the score. They are passionate about sci-fi in the same way they are passionate about fantasy and at its very heart, that is something to be looking forward to!
  
  Ok! So the future is bright - but what about the game!? Well, it's sounding like the natural evolution of the AoWIII formula, with each featured beefed up to the max.
  
  What we have come to expect remains:
  
  The `race & class´ combo returns with a few changes. Now its ´faction & technology´ and your choice of race will be much more important than it was in AoWIII.
  
  However, entirely new species have been created just for this game and while some of them share similar traits and characteristics compared to the classics such as dwarves, they all have something that separates them from their fantasy counterparts.
  
  The world map and expansion system makes its return too, with a few improvements. The entire map is now broken into sectors, each one specialising in something different. One of them may allow you to establish a new settlement, while another can be bolted onto a previous settlements domain, unlocking new features. The idea is fascinating and should help to both speed up the game, while making empire management both more engaging and entertaining.
  
  A human looking settlement with a human guardian & new artwork throughout the image! Checkout all those lovely looking sectors around the place too, oozing with loreful names.
  
  The game engine has received a massive overhaul as now everything is much more focused around long range combat. This has changed the flow of the game and new mechanics have been introduced that keep things interesting. Including the return of flying units!
  
  More critical decisions have been added to the games world map, to counterbalance the already amazing combat side of the series:
  
  Colony management is more involved, with a population points system that can be moved around within a sector to specialise in certain areas increasing productivity where needed.
  
  An enhanced diplomacy system is woven into more areas of the game and further increases the fun factor on the world map.
  
  A new unit blueprint system has been introduced, unlocking the ability to create multiple versions of the same base unit - using different loadouts. For example a marine with a anti-infantry or anti-heavy weapon.
  
  The game isnt even in an alpha state yet and I am already falling all over it with joy at the information that has leaked out over the past few weeks. So far so good. There are still many areas of the game we know so little about, but if you want to find a run down on all the information we do know, keep reading for a full list.
  
  Check the 6 different logos painted on the walls. Perhaps these represent something... a form of Easter Egg perhaps of the 6 races logos? Who knows
  
  Publishing features
  
  Main Website
  
  Announcement Trailer
  
  Release Date: Circa 2019
  
  Platforms: PC, Mac & Console
  
  Sound Designer: Michiel Van Den Bos
  
  Story Designer:Â Ray Bingham
  
  Blurbs:
  
  eXplore: Uncover the history of the fallen galactic empire as you explore lush landscapes. Encounter NPC factions and rival houses, and discover hidden technologies that can strengthen your society.
  
  eXpand: Create your own unique House, and build prosperous colonies through economic specializations of planetary sectors and governing doctrines.
  
  eXploit:Achieve your end goals through conquest, diplomacy or doomsday technologies. Engrossing options with NPC factions and rival Houses won`t make the decisions easy!
  
  eXterminate:Â Perfect your combat strategy in intense turn-based battles that offer tactical challenges, a large cast of races, units with customizable weapons, and destructible environments.
  
  The dead skeleton from the trailer video, does that flower mean something? Who knows!
  
  Thematic Info
  
  It's still an Age of Wonders game, however technology replaces most magical abilities. There are also psychic races that help to represent magical abilities.
  
  The game is using a custom mythological science-fiction setting, based around a long forgotten fallen empire called the Star Union. It is unknown whether or not it is set within the same universe, however, the races are certainly unique to this game.
  
  Consider the setting a blend of Alpha Centauri & Fallout on a vastly increased scale, featuring multiple worlds all secreting away old technology among various other mysteries of the Star Union.
  
  Core gameplay features
  
  6 Major Races
  
  5 Dwelling Races (an expanded independent factions system which is akin to Dwellings of AoW3 or the Spirits of AoW2)
  
  A secret/ancient technology system in place of the class system from AoW3
  
  A sector system that covers the world, defining what you can encounter, connected to the Random Map Generator system
  
  Procedural generation both in skirmish and campaign modes
  
  Considerably larger world & battle maps, compared to previous editions of AoW
  
  A module & blueprint system allowing you to customize units, keeping low-tier units competitive throughout the game
  
  New resource systems that make empire building and management more engaging
  
  A relatively rare resource, Cosmite, designed to manage the frequency of tier 3, and especially tier 4, units, as well as several high end technologies, that can be fielded has been introduced, but details are not finalized.
  
  A revamped diplomacy to incorporate various new systems of the game
  
  Hero & Leader Units with an expanded mount system
  
  A strong focus on ranged combat and tactical elevation
  
  The return of adjacent hex rule (to bring multiple armies into battle) and of a maximum stack size of 6 units
  
  All of the usual multiplayer modes we have come to expect from the AoW series, with a max player count of 12
  
  Terraforming both the world and battle map
  
  Combat
  
  6 different damage types (or weapon groups) exist: Kinetic/Explosive/Laser/Biochemical/Psionic/Arc
  
  The racial weapon techs (primary researched weapon tech types, but not necessarily the only damage type a faction will deal) follows this matrix:
  
  Vanguard: Kinetic/Laser
  
  Dvar: Kinetic/Explosive
  
  Kir'Ko: Psionic/Biochemical
  
  Amazon: Laser/Biochemical
  
  Assembly: Kinetic//Arc
  
  Syndicate: Psionic/Arc
  
  No faction at release uses Laser/Arc, because "The lack of flexibility the race would face might be problematic."
  
  Compared to previous AoW, the following comparisons can be made:
  
  Kinetic is roughly Physical damage
  
  Explosive is (likely) a split between Physical/Fire (Thermal)
  
  Laser is roughly Fire (Thermal) damage
  
  Biochemical is roughly Acid/Poison damage
  
  Psionic is roughly Spirit damage
  
  Psionic damage ignores armour rating, and is only reduced by shield rating and Psionic resistance.
  
  Arc is roughly Lightning/Shock damage
  
  Currently, no unit uses multi-channel damage abilities, but the game does support multi-channel attacks.
  
  There is no deployment phase, however the battlefields are now considerably larger, containing interactive objects that can be used for cover and even be destroyed under sustained heavy fire.
  
  Defender moves first when combat is engaged. Only the Attacker may retreat.
  
  With larger battlefields, a stronger focus is placed on ranged combat than ever before. This has allowed permanently air born units (who can't be hit by land melee units) to make a return to the game.
  
  Flying units can fly over ground units on the same hex.
  
  You can also use large vehicles or even summoned interactables such as a drop-pod as cover, gaining a boost to your defenses.
  
  Impassible terrain can only be flown or floated over in combat, with some rare units being able to move through obstacles.
  
  Technology replaces magic: Now called `Operations´, You can call in off-screen assistance in the form of; artillery and orbital bombardments, marine drop pods, napalm style attacks, and much much more.
  
  Natural Terrain & Tactical Elevation: Citadels, Biodomes, Terraces and more. While nothing has yet been set in stone, raised and lowered elements of terrain is planned and should affect cover, hit chances, movement, the value of flying units, etc.
  
  Sieges: The siege system has been redesigned. We know maps are much larger now and that elevation now plays an effect. Attacking from building terraces was discussed.
  
  Combat between a Promethean Phoenix Walker and some sort of Promethean Infantry and a Xenoplague Plaguelord
  
  Defense Mode: Provides a 25% reduction in hit chance against the unit.
  
  Ranged Overwatch:
  
  Uses your remaining action points to enter overwatch and aim a cone of fire in a given direction.
  
  The unit will fire upon any enemies which enter said cone of fire (even if they are behind cover), a number of times equal to the amount of action points it had remaining.
  
  Primarily available to 'rifleman' and 'sniper' styled units, although generally defensive units may qualify for it as well.
  
  Benefits from a hidden bonus to allow Overwatch attacks to suffer less some of the accuracy penalties from long range and cover.
  
  Melee Overwatch:
  
  Melee units go into a melee range overwatch at the end of their turn, even if they took an action that turn.
  
  Provides a free attack against any unit which attempts to move past them or fire at them in melee.
  
  It is not confirmed if this drains their action points, but it likely will.
  
  Stagger:
  
  Impact attacks can stagger units and break their Overwatch stance.
  
  High impact attacks break Overwatch of Light units.
  
  Massive impact attacks are needed to break the Overwatch of Heavy units.
  
  Units who get staggered in the middle of an action will be interrupted after their first attack or step is taken:
  
  A moving unit will stop with no move points left and might end up out of cover.
  
  An attacking unit will stop attacking and lose the unused attacks from the remaining action points it had.
  
  Action Points: A similar system to that of AoW3, however draining action points works a little different now that ranged combat reigns supreme.
  
  Certain attacks and abilities can stagger an opponent which knocks them out of stances like overwatch or guard mode and also drains them of their action points too.
  
  Hit Chance: `Controlled randomness´ A combination of AoW2s hit chance and AoW3s Action Points has resulted in the chance to
  
  Hit for full damage
  
  Graze for half damage (up to 25% chance)
  
  Miss for no damage
  
  These will likely result in much more countering and careful advances than previously with an increased focus on ranged units that should make this quite an interesting and fun addition.
  
  Accuracy:
  
  Default, unmodified, accuracy of basic rifle like the Vanguard T1's rifle will likely be 90%
  
  Long range attacks have lower accuracy
  
  Targeting units under cover also lowers accuracy; smokescreens can be deployed to create cover
  
  While combat concealment did not make it into the game, there are things like long grass which will provide a defensive bonus to Light units(accuracy penalty for enemies), while instead being destroyed by Heavy units if the tile is entered
  
  Shooting at units at lower height than oneself increases accuracy
  
  It is not entirely confirmed, but it is at least implied that successive shots, and possibly Overwatch in general, experience accuracy penalties
  
  Example: for an accuracy of 80%, the hit chance is 80%, the graze chance is 20% and the miss chance is 0%. For an accuracy of 40%: hit 40%, graze 25% and miss 35%.
  
  Damage calculation
  
  Each additional resistance point reduces damage by 10% compared to the damage without this extra point, so additional resistance has diminishing returns.
  
  The formula is D = I + (I x (1 - 0.9^-R)) with I = Incoming damage D = Actual damage taken R = Damage resistance (sum of shields, armour and elemental resistance)
  
  The shield value is ignored by melee attacks.
  
  Armour and shield values can be reduced, but not into the negatives. Elemental weaknesses are the only way to use the damage formula as a damage amplifier (for instance Thermal Weakness 5 means that 5 is subtracted from your armour/shield value, and that result can be negative).
  
  The first few points of resistance reduce damage by roughly 10% each, but as more is stacked, this decreases rapidly. The difference between 10 and 11 resistance is only 4% for instance of the incoming damage.
  
  Flanking
  
  Deals +20% damage
  
  Also triggers damage bonus (e.g. Exposed Flank or Flanker abilities)
  
  Ranges (hexes)
  
  Short: 3
  
  Medium: 5
  
  Long: 7
  
  Extreme: 9
  
  Insta-death abilities
  
  Some abilities can instantly kill enemy units (like Invoke Death in AoW3). For instance the Plasma Disintegrator Module is an end game module for laser weaponry, allowing attacks to strip armour and giving a chance to insta-kill tier 1 and 2 units.
  
  Races (6)
  
  Each race is designed around its own unique set of mechanics.
  
  Different primary races will each provide unique playing experience through different:
  
  Structures
  
  Racial economic bonuses
  
  Doctrines
  
  8 Modules (for each race)
  
  Operations, etc.
  
  Each race will provide 11 stock units: 8 ground/air faction-specific units, 2 faction-specific naval units, and a Colonizer.
  
  The Vanguard
  
  Are an old expeditionary task force that were sent out to claim new worlds on the frontier of the Union. The Vanguard are hardened pioneers and marines with few ties to the old world; the effects of time dilation matter little to them.Â When they arrived at their destination and emerged from cryo-stasis, the Vanguard found out the Nexus had gone black, and they had no way to return. In the time they had been traveling, the empire they were sworn to protect had fallen. Because of this delay, the Vanguard resemble imperial forces from before the fall.
  
  The Vanguard specialize in drones and autonomous robots.
  
  Their faction leader is called Jack Gelder, his city is called Fort Gelder.
  
  Favoured terrain: Arcadian
  
  Known Units:
  
  T1
  
  OWL
  
  Very weak offensively (4 power Thermal damage, multi-fire ranged attack)
  
  Flying
  
  May have innate stealth detection.
  
  Increases the accuracy of allies against targets it attacks, or it has a specific ability to increase the accuracy of allies against a given target.
  
  An OWL upgrading: its modules are de-activated for 1 turn
  
  Marine
  
  Liberator
  
  T2
  
  Gunship
  
  Assault Bike
  
  A high speed vehicle designed to engage enemy units at medium to close range, it mounts powerful, high impact laser weaponry but sacrifices armor along its flanks to make up for it
  
  Exposed Flanks: loses two points of armour when flanked
  
  Focused Laser Array: medium range, single target attack, moderate amount of thermal damage; High Impact attack which knocks Light Units into an adjacent hex
  
  Wild Laser Array: fire over the 7 hexes directly in front of it; stagger enemy unit it hits
  
  Stagger Resistant (originates from Heavy Unit): can only be staggered by Massive Impact attacks
  
  Tank
  
  Mech Walker
  
  Their engineer unit can deploy a turret
  
  Their T4 specializes in launching various types of drones in combat to provide defensive and offensive support. It is possibly flying. Possibly similar to a Star Craft Protoss carrier, in function, but certainly not visual style, since this is Vanguard.
  
  Humans, and some weird tiny units in the background (look over the guy in the coats right shoulder!) which are probably the Kir'Ko Ravenous and Frenzied .
  
  The Amazons
  
  Are a brutal race of warrior women who biologically enhanced themselves as well as savage alien races to use as their tools, in an effort to better crush their foes.
  
  They have been described as an all female nation of MMA fighters, riding brutal dinosaurs into battle.
  
  A parallel has been drawn between them and elves.
  
  Inherent traits:
  
  Favoured terrain: Arcadian.
  
  Forest Affinity: provides a morale bonus in forests (potentially stacking with their Arcardian favored terrain when applicable).
  
  Expedited Movement (Forest): allows faster movement through forests.
  
  Known units
  
  T2
  
  Lancer
  
  Typically deployed to patrol the vast forests where the Amazon`s conduct their research, Lancers are the pinnacle of self sufficiency.
  
  Its melee attack Staggers opponents.
  
  Energy Buckler: gives the Lancer its 3 Shield but not against flanking attacks.
  
  Flanker: provides a bonus +25% damage on Flanking attacks, in addition to the base +20%, for a total of +45% damage
  
  The Dvar
  
  Are a faction of planetary miners who entered the most hostile places in space using their powerful suits to shield themselves from radiation, heat, etc. during the Star Unions reign.
  
  Now, nobody knows exactly what they look like, as they live within their suits, and you never see their faces. It's like... do Dwarven women exist AoWP style!
  
  Even when you customize their appearance, you`re customizing the eye holes, adding an exhaust or an extra tube, etc.
  
  Their methods are based around explosives, tectonic shifts, etc. and so their battlefield mechanics are themed around area of effects and staggering opponents.
  
  Dvar commonly have 24 base speed. A sort of slow but strong thematic army approach to their design.
  
  Inherent traits:
  
  Favoured terrain: Arid.
  
  Known units:
  
  T2:
  
  Bulwark
  
  Dedicated gunnery platform designed to guard Dvar facilities against thieves and aggressive native fauna.
  
  Unlimited Overwatch: allows a full three shots against all targets that enter their cone of fire when in Ranged Overwatch, regardless of the remaining action points.
  
  Concussive Volley: long range, extremely (currently at 96% against a Lancer) high success rate single target stun ability, which lasts only for the turn of impact, designed to setup another ally to take advantage of the automatic flanking damage.
  
  T4
  
  Through some visual trickery the Dvar Tier IV actually looks like it is taking up 7 hexes.
  
  Possibly some form of artillery.
  
  The Assembly
  
  Represent both a brutish orclike race, as well as a skittish goblinoid people. They have also been heavily modified and many of their body parts have been replaced with mechanical legs or even tentacles.
  
  One of their units can take apart corpses and rebuild them into spider bomb robots.
  
  Humanoid, with many mechanical parts, including tendrils/tentacle-like protrusions: an Assembly unit?
  
  The Kir`ko
  
  Are a race of rational, sapient and psionic insectoids that were once enslaved by the Star Union, giving them a bad predisposition towards human houses
  
  Inherent traits:
  
  Swarm Shield: gains a non-stacking bonus of +2 shields when adjacent to other Kir'Ko units
  
  Rapid Regeneration: heals +6 bonus HP per strategic turn on the world map
  
  Favoured terrain: Fungal
  
  Known Units:
  
  T2
  
  Hidden:
  
  One of the descendents of the Kir`ko queens, who were wiped out by the Star Union. Bred as guerilla fighters, the Hidden championed the cause of Kir`ko rebellion from the shadows. As with all Kir`ko females, the Hidden have powerful psionic abilities, which they use to both attack and elude their foes.
  
  Defense Mode: Evasion: provides a further 25% reduction on top of normal Defense Mode, for a total of -50% chance to be hit.
  
  Universal Camouflage: grants concealment on all terrain types.
  
  Shrouded Step: ability similar to Shadow Step in AoW3: teleports the unit at short range and also creates an accuracy-reducing smoke cloud in the target and all adjacent hexes upon arrival.
  
  Psi-Rifle: uses all the action points.
  
  Psi-Rifle Snap Shot: can be used after moving.
  
  Improved Overwatch: gets an accuracy bonus for overwatch shots.
  
  The Kir'Ko equivalent of the Vanguard Marine is called a Frenzied, a melee unit who gains a bonus for each attack it makes.
  
  The Kir'Ko equivalent of the Vanguard Tank is called a Ravenous. Mechanically similar to the Harvester from AoW:SM, it is a melee unit which can eat units whole and then lay eggs to spawn new units of their own.
  
  The Syndicate
  
  Very little is known about them other than they are currently using an eastern architecture design and are rumored to be themed around slavery.
  
  Syndicate (left) and Amazons (right)
  
  Secret Technology `Classes´
  
  You choose one out of six types of secret technology that you start the game with.
  
  This determines your research and `class´-based abilities, modules, doctrines, operations and units. Each Secret Tech also has a unique Victory Condition.
  
  Every Secret Tech will provide a race with around 4 additional unique racial units.
  
  You can unlock additional secret technologies from `old tech black sites´ scattered throughout the maps.
  
  Secret Tech selection will be hidden to other players (they can of course guess it when they see you using units or other elements from the Secret Tech).
  
  Promethean Technology Designed to destroy enemy of the Star Union from within or without.
  
  The Promethean specialize in Thermal weapons that leave areas of the battlefield on fire, providing area denial abilities. They can also mod their units to be immune to this fire, or even gain buffs from it, allowing them to reshape the battlefield to their advantage.
  
  Promethean's icon
  
  Xenoplague Technology
  
  Biochemical damage.
  
  Unknown! We need more info.
  
  Psynumbra
  
  Psionic damage.
  
  VoidTech
  
  Possibly Kinetic damage.
  
  Voidtech's icon
  
  Two more secret tech, yet unknown.
  
  Icon of one of the two secret tech to be revealed, mentioned as "the opposite of Psynumbra".
  
  Planetary `NPC´Natives
  Wildlife Independents
  
  These are the mindless and disorganized units that you will be encountering throughout the maps, that do not belong to an empire.
  
  The confirmed units so far are Giant killer insects and the Quartzinites: A varied race of creatures made from types of stone.
  
  Marauders
  
  Marauder Bases are the term given for spawner sites of various roaming independents. Similarly, Marauder is an umbrella term for the monsters and pirates that are beyond reason and cannot be negotiated with, not a true NPC Faction.
  
  Marauder units include:
  
  Hopperhound: similar to a giant locust, with the ability to jump and rip through (shred? ignore?) armour.
  
  Non-Primary Combatants (NPC) Factions
  
  The independent faction system from AoW3 has been fleshed out and are planned to have a more important role within the game.
  
  They are intended to represent the people that survived the fall of the Star Union, but are not powerful enough to amass system or even planet wide control.
  
  NPC Diplomacy and Quests
  
  Each NPC Faction has its own set of quests and narrative flavour.
  
  Quests can even include economic quests requiring you to spend time producing a quest objective in one of your settlements.
  
  With good influence and relationship, you can ask for NPC to give up important structures for you to use. You can negotiate otherwise friendly faction site defenders to move away at an influence cost, varying by the level of your relationship and your general reputation level.
  
  If you decide to remove an army belonging to an NPC faction by force, it means war with the entire faction and a hit on your global reputation.
  
  Just as AI Players, NPC factions lay claim to unowned Sectors around their habitats.
  
  NPC factions will make demands based on their relation with you and based on the stage of the game. Small and early offenses can be made right by payments in one of the key resources. Soon demands will escalate and include demands that you hand over sectors to them. If you decline demands, relations will go further south and you are at risk of attack.
  
  NPC Factions have no direct relations with each other, but may provide quests which impact player relations with other factions.
  
  A NPC faction's Quest
  
  NPC Unit Rosters and Assets
  
  Each NPC Faction has at least 5 unique units, including a Tier IV.
  
  It also has a set of unique Mods and Operations you can acquire from them.
  
  As with other mods, they will have requisite unit identifiers, such as Infantry, Biological or Mechanical.
  
  Depending on your relation level you can recruit NPC Units as auxiliary forces. The higher your relation, the higher the level you can recruit. This recruitment costs additional influence.
  
  NPC relation of other players can be influenced through Covert Ops and play a role in achieving particular victory conditions.
  
  NPC Attack Events
  
  NPC factions can launch invasion attacks associated with events. An extreme version of NPC attack events are Boss events, extra strong armies that have named Boss characters with high level unit mods and henchmen.
  
  An NPC Boss Army alert (Highly WIP)
  
  Dwellings
  
  Strongly defended, relatively permanent structures (presumably they may still be subject to being razed).
  
  Usually multiple per map.
  
  Can and will lay claims on surrounding sectors.
  
  Dwelling can be annexed to your cities like other sectors. They have resource yields comparable with the Golden Landmarks (the highest-level economic structures in the game), and they unlock the production of units of the faction.
  
  NPC faction (forward) bases
  
  A lesser form of dwellings.
  
  Usually multiple are scattered around a dwelling, not necessarily attached.
  
  Temporary structures (removed if cleared), similar to a spawning site in AoW3.
  
  Can be cleared by either combat or diplomatic means.
  
  If made sufficiently hostile, they will spawn stacks to attack the player instead (similar to Brigand spawners when hostile).
  
  Relations with them are influenced (and possibly influence as well) by relations with that NPC-faction as a whole (such as the dwelling).
  
  With unique combat maps.
  
  Can occupy sectors and prevent settling in said sectors.
  
  Patrols: guard territory around dwellings.
  
  Raiding Armies: attack enemy territory; originate from dwellings or bases.
  
  Boss Armies: high level raiding armies.
  
  The RMG associates particular assets with NPC factions.
  
  For instance, Growth has particular tentacle hexes and particular resources and Hazards near its areas based on their theme. NPC factions have a noisy clustering, meaning a Dwelling + Bases + Resource Guards don't sit in a clumped ball on a map, but territory has holes and mixes with other NPC factions
  
  Â Paragons
  
  The Union`s privileged citizens and praetorian military. Named after the Paragon Augmentations company that provided them with the extensive bionic implants that unnaturally extended their lives. Their life-extending augmentations and therapies which are now faltering. They haven`t lost their arrogance and entitlement though.
  
  Approaching a Paragon Dwelling with a Colonizer.
  
  Paragon units (including probably a Paragon transport moving a Vanguard unit)
  
  Growth
  
  Intelligent plants escaped from biotech company Terra Tech. They strive to live in a symbiosis with other life forms, not for people with tenctaclephobia.
  
  Spacers
  
  Mutated descendants of the urban populations. Their society and religion were shaped by gaming culture, as the empire population was entertained extreme VR experiences. With the networks gone, they seek their thrills in the physical world.
  
  A Spacer caught on camera?
  
  Automons
  
  Robots from the emergency services that have developed their own autonomous AIs after the central network of CORE went down.
  
  Psi-Fish (also called "Space Jellyfish" :silly
  
  Mysterious floating aliens that have become more prevalent after the collapse.
  
  Psi Fish units
  
  NPC factions can be controlled in the RMG, but details on how (just frequency, or even type?) were not provided. Apparently not all NPC types will exist together on a normal planet.
  
  Technology and research
  
  Players will have limited access to the tech trees of other main faction races they acquire in their empire.
  
  The tech tree is divided into a yet unknown number of tiers.
  
  There are some tech progression dependencies but (so far) only within the same tech type, creating "Tech Paths", displayed in distinct colours (see screenshot below).
  
  Military and Society technologies are separated form each other, but now also researched simultaneously.
  
  Techs have tag identifiers under their name denoting Forces/Tactical/Strategic/etc.
  
  Unit characteristics
  
  Units are classified as Biological or Mechanical. This influences the module they can use.
  
  Mechanical Units automatically have 4 Psionic Resistance and 2 Arc Weakness, similar to Machines having Spirit protection (immunity) and Shock/Fire Weakness in AoW3. Biomechanical attacks have been stated to include such effects as armour-shredding acid, being designed as a counter to the generally highly-armoured Mechanical units.
  
  Some units are classified with the 'Core' trait.
  
  While unconfirmed, it is noted that of the revealed units, only T1 units so far have been Core, and one can extrapolate that 'Core' units are likely the units available to be produced by a faction without requiring further research.
  
  Different sizes:
  
  Light Unit
  
  Heavy Unit
  
  Standard property given to most vehicles and larger units.
  
  Gives Stagger resistance (staggered only by Massive impact attacks).
  
  The unit will not turn to face its attacker when shot at.
  
  An undetermined title, but at least one larger size
  
  So far, this primarily appears to relate to Impact/Stagger effects, with Heavy Units having Stagger Resistance which counters High Impact, but not Massive Impact strikes. Also, Heavy units do not turn to react to flanking strikes.
  
  A 'Large Target' trait also exists. It is presumed to relate to the fact that you can now aim at units later in a line, and have a chance to hit any of the targets, with a multi-shot attack. Large Target in this case, would likely make the given unit more likely to be struck, making it an effective blocker unit.
  
  Unit Blueprint & Module system:
  
  A fairly unique system whereby you research `modules´ based each of which can only be applied to specific unit types.
  
  Modules originate from your race (8 per race), Secret Tech, Weapon Tech (around 7 per weapon group), NPC-factions, secondary-acquired races (and possibly even Landmark fans hope).
  
  Units can have up to 3 modules.
  
  In order to build units using those modules, you need to design a blueprint or template which you can name, and then build its `prototype´.
  
  Each new unit of that type built after the prototype will use the set design and previously built units can be also be upgraded to that design too.
  
  This lets you develop and field various versions of the same stock unit, each specialized to counter a specific threat. This also means that through micromanagement, you can choose to field low tier units and keep them competitive throughout the game, instead of relying on high tier units as soon as they become available.
  
  It's worth noting that some races modules can be used by multiple races, while others are locked to only a themselves. Such as Amazons using Vanguard guns, while only the Kir`ko can use their organic weapons.
  
  The mods equipped by a unit can be changed (upgrading) or new mods can be added to a unit having few or none (retrofitting): this takes time (at least 1 turn) and also disables all current mods for the duration of the upgrade process.
  
  Experience and ranks
  
  Currently, unit rank ups are primarily set to increase health and accuracy values, with the unit module system designed to provide extra abilities to units. The devs have looked into providing enhanced modifiers towards a unit's core trait purpose, though, at higher ranks. Bonus towards a Bulwark's Overwatch, or a Lancer's flanking effectiveness, for example.
  
  Endless champion medals are not in right now, but might come back. High-end mods are relied on to make early game units viable.
  
  Boss units
  
  Should exxist outside the standard unit tier ratings
  
  Found within certain exploration sites, and special spawner events, such as NPC attack events.
  
  Unit icons updated on the go: a snapshot renderer will update units' icons based on the modules they use, etc. It will also save icon creation time for modders.
  
  Strategic (world) map
  
  Your settlements now spawn their own set of defenders, meaning you no longer need to place a world map army on the side to have a garrisoned force during tactical combat.
  
  You can increase the levels of protection through buildings, such as city-wide shields.
  
  Sector System:
  
  The entire map is now broken up into named sectors (a similar game mechanics to the Mystical City Upgrades from AoW3), and a single sector can be as large as an AoW3 cities domain.
  
  Different sector types:
  
  Wilderness Sectors follow natural boundaries and reflect their terrain. They contain one biome and a number of natural terrain features - these define the sector's base resource yield. Players can expand their colonies into Wildernesses and develop them.
  
  Coastal Waters: similar to Wilderness Sectors.
  
  Landmark Sectors contain high value, large Imperial ruins providing unique benefits. Landmarks `occupy´ the sector. This means they can be annexed by your colonies, but you can`t found a new colony on them. Some examples:
  
  Elysium Park: lets you recruit Las Vegas style entertainment industry androids.
  
  Xenolife Institute:
  
  Gives +40 food, +4 colonist slots in food, +20 research income and +2 colonist slots in research
  
  Unlocks structure Genetics Lab
  
  Is potentially related to the Xenoplague units (unless it's entirely a Secret Tech), at least in lore.
  
  Sunshine Synthetics Biodomes:
  
  Primary income attribute: growth
  
  May be affiliated with the Growth NPC faction
  
  Perpetual Spark Generator:
  
  Primary income attribute: energy
  
  May be affiliated with the Autonom NPC faction
  
  Inverse Relativity Center:
  
  Primary income attribute: knowledge
  
  Dwelling Sectors: Contain the bases and cities of NPC Natives. Smaller spawner-like camps you can clear through diplomacy or force. Larger habitats work like landmarks in the sense they they occupy a sector.
  
  Sectors may provide unique story content, such as quests and side missions.
  
  Additional Structures and Effects: Next to sector occupying Landmark and bases, there is a collection of secondary structures to be found. They include resource nodes, pickups and visit sites. Then there are defenses and hazards that work as status effects for the entire sector.
  
  Colonies are expanded by adding sectors to them, these sectors can subsequently be specialized in one of the main resource types and further upgraded. Landmark Sectors provide unique benefits to the colonies. Higher level landmarks unlock new city upgrades, or unlock new Doctrines.
  
  The number of sectors a colony can annex is dependent on population level, as well as research allowing you to settle certain types.
  
  Players may lay claim to lands by building Forward Bases in sectors. Sectors can also be captured and traded individually.
  
  Forward basis cost rather than yield resources.
  
  A Sector Analysis screen will detail information related to each sector: structures, incomes, and unlockable Doctrines (primarily for Landmark Sectors), etc.
  
  The Sector Analysis panel on the right, with doctrines presumably unlocked by the Xeno Life Institute (Cosmite here has its old name of Crystal)
  
  Scanning
  
  Sectors will project a scan range into surrounding sectors' fog of war, and possibly beyond, giving identifying markers for site defenders (Neutrals) and aggressive independent or enemy unit stacks.
  
  Research, varying by faction to some degree, can influence the scanning distance and details given, but research can also inhibit enemy scanning abilities, depending on what your faction has available.
  
  Concealed units avoid being revealed by scanning by default, and structures such as the Shroud Station project a scanning-resistant fog of war similar to the Domain of Darkness of Age of Wonders 2. There are even Operations to conceal sectors (or units).
  
  Scanners will not show an overall detection radius by default, but it may be added in as a toggle.
  
  Scanner identifying hostiles in the fog of war
  
  Note the yellow markers in the fog of war
  
  Terraforming on the world map makes a return, including the ability to lower and raise terrain and likely even erecting new mountains altogether.
  
  The world map is based around a single planet, though the campaign will span an entire system or even galaxy.
  
  Various map layers, such as underground, shadow realm, atmosphere and orbit are in a concept phase at the moment and may not make it into the game at all. *sad face*
  
  The world map is still square, but it now loops around on the west-east axis. Letting you continue marching in one of those directions without stopping.
  
  There are five main land biomes + oceans. Planets are thus made of frozen wastes, lush jungles, and deserts, with their own alien flora and fauna.
  
  The different biomes have varied resource yields to be exploited through research.
  
  Planets can be created from templates or the player can adjust settings (including the amount of Star Union Ruins for instance).
  
  All procedural generated planets get a name and are plotted on the Star Union`s galaxy map.
  
  Movement and healing
  
  Standard move speed values are 24/32/40.
  
  Being within Friendly Territory causes a unit to recover +6 HP per strategic game turn. It has been implied, but not outright confirmed, this may be the only way for units to normally regain health, applying a form of attrition to the game. It is notable that this healing also applies for units tagged as Mechanical.
  
  Pickups on the world map can sometimes trigger bonus events with a multiple choice selection of actions/rewards to be taken from them. These bonus events are always positive in some way, to avoid ambushes on scout units getting the pickups.
  
  Example of pickup events
  
  Hazards
  
  Hazards are a new type of hex occurrence which drastically reduce the income of sectors they are in, and have negative effects on units nearby.
  
  They require special researched technology to be removed.
  
  Examples include:
  
  Nuclear Craters
  
  Void Rifts
  
  Biowar Residues
  
  Abyssal Tear:
  
  This sector contains a Tear into the Abyss, through with its influence seeps into this world.
  
  This sector generates 50% less income.
  
  Units do not regain health out of combat.
  
  Non-Psynumbra units suffer a -3 reduction to Vision and Sensor range.
  
  Non-Mindless, Non-Psunumbra units suffer -300 Morale.
  
  Psynumbra marauders spawn from here, raiding their surroundings.
  
  Economy
  
  Resource bar icons (left to right). Energy, Cosmite, Knowledge, Influence, Global Morale, Tactical Operations (Tac Ops), Strategic Operations (Strat Ops), Doctrines. Reputation is next to leader face. The city banner of Gelderland shows from left to right: icon representing the current item in production, a small number indicating time remaining on production (3 turns), a large number for the current population level (13), a small number indicating time until population grows (1 turn). Hope you have good eyes!
  
  Energy is the main universal currency in the game. It is used for the production and upkeep of units, colony structures, unit modules and operations. Energy is generated by your colonies. It can be traded, and can be found as nodes and pickups on the map.
  
  Cosmite is a rare material, which has an origin beyond the void and is required for advanced units (T3 and especiall T4), unit modules and potentially some Operations and special structures. Cosmite is mainly gained from map nodes (Craters!). The rarity of this material means that high tier units can`t be mass produced and Sectors containing Cosmite are highly contested.
  
  Cosmite may or may not have some depletion mechanic, but is currently leaning heavily towards being balanced by income versus costs.
  
  Influence is the diplomatic currency used to manipulate other players and NPC factions, it can be used for things like asking NPCs to surrender locations, hire NPC mercenaries, and to make diplomatic pronouncements. Influence is gained by performing Quests and from an inherent generation of your empire. Cooperative Doctrines and friendly play styles give bonuses on Influence generation.
  
  Quest for The Growth NPC Faction with influence among the rewards.
  
  Reputation determines how other Empires and NPC factions see you. Reputation modifies your Influence gains and Global Morale. Similar to AoW3`s alignment, your Reputation is influenced by your in-game actions.
  
  Knowledge is used to conduct research (rediscover and apply the lost technologies of the Star Union).
  
  Tactical Operations points are used to launch Operations you can call in during tactical combat (Air strikes, Psi Storms, etc), when a battle takes place within your Operational Coverage. The Tac Ops value resets every turn.
  
  Strategic Operations can used on the world map. Strategic Operations include summons, sector (de-)buffs, and covert actions.
  
  Doctrine slots determines the amount of global doctrines (e.g. empire wide bonuses) you can have active at once.
  
  More doctrines will be available than you can pick: choices will need to be made.
  
  Global Morale is the overall morale of your empire. It affects Unit Morale and the Happiness of your colonists. It is influenced by the wars you enter and how justified they are perceived to be. Note there are more variables but they are not global. Like colony food and production capacity.
  
  Colony Management & Resources:
  
  Excess production and research points will overflow so as to not go wasted.
  
  Roads are now automatically built between your settlements / sectors.
  
  Sectors yield special resources and the terrain or biome a sector is based on determines the types of bonuses available.
  
  What these resources do exactly is unknown, but they will provide some form of benefit based on the settlement its attached to. This makes it vital to snake your empire across a map, to soak up these resources into your sector chain, effecting each settlement within.
  
  A new system has been introduced that allows you to designate what your Colonists (population) are working on, to better exploit these resources.
  
  A new settlement will start off with a few Colonists. Colonists from all sectors are pooled together and can be assigned to specific tasks. Such as:
  
  Working towards increasing the food stores which helps with settlement growth.
  
  Sending your workers to the factories will increase production speed.
  
  This seems like an an improved version of the old settlement build queues, seemingly allowing you to work on multiple things at once by moving people around to speed up certain outputs.
  
  Colonist assignment is fairly straightforward and can be fully automated. Colonists act as wiggle room in the economy (on top of flat income sources). Colonists are assigned per resource channel (and not per sector or per tile).
  
  Command Point & High Tier Unit System:
  
  Command points are assumed to work like casting points, without drawing from a pool of mana.
  
  They let you use special abilities during combat or on the world map and reset upon the beginning of each new turn.
  
  Victory conditions
  
  Allied victory is evidently available
  
  Last Man Standing: self-explanatory, classical victory
  
  Domination: a certain percentage (likely 60~70%+) of the map control is under control
  
  Doomsday (Technological victory):
  
  Little is known, but these are presumed win conditions for a Skirmish game and a campaigns end goal.
  
  There are at least a few different versions, one for each Secret Tech, of these `super weapons´ around and they are supposed to be so powerful that they could have wiped out the entirety of the Star Union.
  
  Converting to a hive mind was hinted at as the level of power to be expected by these super weapons.
  
  Another was the Genoplague (which may be a simple high tier `spell´), which lets you mutate soldiers or even an entire colony with a virus that rewrites their DNA.
  
  Rewriting colonist DNA could change how they deal with the environment they live in,
  
  Rewriting soldiers DNA could result in them becoming freakish monsters, able to stab enemies with their sharp but fleshy appendages.
  
  Opponents will get multiple notices about the proximity of a player reaching Doomsday victory
  
  Racial Victory Conditions may exist in a future expansion, but are likely to be a toggle option off by default at best, for multiplayer, due to asymmetry.
  
  Diplomacy
  
  Happiness & Alignment & Diplomacy Mechanics:
  
  These are all now interwoven, being either revamped or entirely rebranded versions of previous systems.
  
  Happiness should work `better than in AoW3´ on both the tactical and world maps, while alignment is heavily woven back into the diplomacy system.
  
  Racial happiness is influenced by your actions toward each race.
  
  Threats, costing Influence, can be added to diplomatic requests. Declining can give the opponent casus belli.
  
  Available diplomatic requests include:
  
  Open Borders (unlimited or for a fixed duration)
  
  Truce (unlimited or for a fixed duration)
  
  Defensive Pact: you get involved in a war only if your ally is the one attacked, but not if your ally is an aggressor.
  
  (Full) Alliance
  
  Other players can become your Vassal. Vassalage is currently permanent, with no way for the Vassal to end the relationship on their end without their 'Ruler' being defeated.
  
  Players automatically lay claim to sectors next to their borders. Settling in it, gives a casus belli unless you have treaties. You can extend claims by building forward bases.
  
  Settling near other players or NPC factions will damage relationship with them
  
  Character customization
  
  Your leader unit in both the campaign and skirmish maps are referred to as a Commander, instead of a Wizard, Leader, Rogue, Dreadnought, etc.
  
  Campaign leaders can be visually customized.
  
  Commander selection screen. Secret Techs should also be displayed on the portraits on the left at game release.
  
  Perks and vices:
  
  AoW:SM style perks are back for Commanders.
  
  Three types of perks can be chosen:
  
  Background: empire bonuses
  
  Star Union Scholar: researches Secret Techs faster and also gets bonus rewards from pickups and treasure sites.
  
  Colony Supplement: extra starting bonus, such as basic structures in your settlement.
  
  Cryopods: extra starting population.
  
  Energy Cache: extra starting Energy.
  
  Personal Loadout: starting gear and combat skills for the commander. Sniper for long range, assault for short range, close combat specialist for melee and pilot for a starting vehicle, are the currently known types.
  
  Vices: penalties of varying intensities to obtain extra perk points in exchange.
  
  Kleptomaniac: lower your empire's energy income, but also gives your leader a free piece of random starting equipment.
  
  List of perks on the right, during Commander customization.
  
  House System:
  
  Triumph Studios have stated that they are unhappy with it and as with everything else at this point, is subject to change or even entire removal. The idea would be to create your own `house´ and play under its banner. How this affects the game is completely unknown at this point.
  
  Campaign
  
  The Random Map Generator is hooked into all areas of the game, including the campaign for maximum levels of replayability. Core sectors will remain the same for plot reasons, but what you find in between may be different every time you restart the map. What is loaded into these sectors is likely dependent on your difficulty settings.
  
  `Each campaign has you resettle a single world, which is procedural generated according to your inputs.´ <source>
  
  Similar to previous AoW campaigns, you can choose which of the factions you want to play as at set points within the campaign.
  
  In an interview we are perhaps given the indication that you can choose which type of map you want to deploy on next, through your choices and the use of the Random Map Generator:
  
  ´˜The Star Union was was so big that there are thousands of worlds to chose from.`
  
  However it is possible that this is simply referring to a lore reasoning behind skirmish maps.
  
  Modding & Mapping
  
  Though its not confirmed yet, the devs are pushing to have the Randomly Generated Maps savable for future editing and personal use as scenarios. The hope is that you could take a campaign map and designate which sectors are randomly setup.
  
  The games uses a 64 bit engine, allowing for a huge array of items to be added to the game, making it easier to mod in new units and even entire races.
  
  We will be able to craft new tactical combat maps, and partially randomize them too. For example, we can make a fort map and then randomize the locations of the trees and rocks around it, in any area we specify. You can then assign an array of maps to an encounter site and one will be picked at random.
  
  Modding in new damage channels is not currently supported, and is unlikely at release.
  
  Both Modding & Mapping tools will be available on launch day.
  
  Story Information
  
  The thousands of worlds of the Star Union were connected through a network of wormholes, called the Nexus. This allowed faster than light travel and fast communication between the worlds.
  
  As the Star Union grew from dozens to thousands of worlds, the Union deployed a governance system at the heart of the Nexus called CORE (short for Conscientious Omnipresent Regency Engine), which gathered and processed data from across the Union. At the start of their term, Emperors and Planetary Governors would be connected to CORE, opening their minds to the immense interstellar dataflow.
  
  Terratech is a biotech company which did the Empire`s Terraforming and ran scary genetics programs. They left guarded black sites on various worlds where they experimented on people. These have become treasure sites within the game and could contain Secret Technology. Terratech is also embedded in the origins of various post-collapse factions through the enslavement and forceful augmentation they forced upon sentient races, such as the Kir`ko, through painful genetic modification.
  
  After the Collapse clusters of stars at the heart of the Union ominously disappeared and gravitational storms made travel through the Nexus impossible.
  
  The story begins rather grim and dark as you emerge from your homeworld to find the Star Union empire you once knew, loooong gone. The game soon evolves into a more mythological sci-fi setting when events unfold and the campaigns will give you the option to create a new Age of Wonders, or plunge the galaxy back into darkness.
  
  The various races, factions and houses of the game were once close with each other before the fall of the Star Union, but after so many years of isolation, they no longer recognize each other.
  
  The game begins not long after the hyperspace lanes reopened as the races dash towards the heart of the once burgeoning Star Union space empire.
  
  The game will feature a fully fledged map of the galaxy, and every campaign and skirmish map has been placed on the Star Map, showing exactly where that map is located.
  
  The AoW fantasy world of Athla is potentially connected to the AoWP universe and placed on the Star Map, based on an interview with Lennart Sas at PDXCon2018.
  
  These maps all have emergent story lines providing hints of past events. The overarching story comes in the form of the Campaign mode.
  
  Technical specifications
  
  64 bits
  
  Improved renderer:
  
  Full anti-aliasing support
  
  Soft shadow support
  
  Optimized for high res-displays (4K) Interface scaling
  
  DirectX 11 (AoW3 uses DirectX9)
  
  Improved multi core support
  
  The Creator Engine 4.0 uses modified Physical Based Rendering (PBR) to render beautiful visuals!
  
  Gains in visuals between AoW3 and Planetfall
  
  Misc
  
  Empire Tasks are probably kinds of AoW3's Empire Quests or Quests during the campaign
  
  The Technologist is one such Empire Tasks
  
  Disclaimer
  
  Everything in this article is conjecture and picked up from forum threads, convention attendees, press sites and dev diaries. The game is a long way off and this article is not a clear representation of what the final product will be like.
  
  ˜The Star Union was was so big that there are thousands of worlds to chose from.`
- However it is possible that this is simply referring to a lore reasoning behind skirmish maps.

Modding & Mapping

Though its not confirmed yet, the devs are pushing to have the Randomly Generated Maps savable for future editing and personal use as scenarios. The hope is that you could take a campaign map and designate which sectors are randomly setup.

The games uses a 64 bit engine, allowing for a huge array of items to be added to the game, making it easier to mod in new units and even entire races.

We will be able to craft new tactical combat maps, and partially randomize them too. For example, we can make a fort map and then randomize the locations of the trees and rocks around it, in any area we specify. You can then assign an array of maps to an encounter site and one will be picked at random.

Modding in new damage channels is not currently supported, and is unlikely at release.

Both Modding & Mapping tools will be available on launch day.

Story Information

The thousands of worlds of the Star Union were connected through a network of wormholes, called the Nexus. This allowed faster than light travel and fast communication between the worlds.

As the Star Union grew from dozens to thousands of worlds, the Union deployed a governance system at the heart of the Nexus called CORE (short for Conscientious Omnipresent Regency Engine), which gathered and processed data from across the Union. At the start of their term, Emperors and Planetary Governors would be connected to CORE, opening their minds to the immense interstellar dataflow.

Terratech is a biotech company which did the Empire`s Terraforming and ran scary genetics programs. They left guarded black sites on various worlds where they experimented on people. These have become treasure sites within the game and could contain Secret Technology. Terratech is also embedded in the origins of various post-collapse factions through the enslavement and forceful augmentation they forced upon sentient races, such as the Kir`ko, through painful genetic modification.

After the Collapse clusters of stars at the heart of the Union ominously disappeared and gravitational storms made travel through the Nexus impossible.

The story begins rather grim and dark as you emerge from your homeworld to find the Star Union empire you once knew, loooong gone. The game soon evolves into a more mythological sci-fi setting when events unfold and the campaigns will give you the option to create a new Age of Wonders, or plunge the galaxy back into darkness.

The various races, factions and houses of the game were once close with each other before the fall of the Star Union, but after so many years of isolation, they no longer recognize each other.

The game begins not long after the hyperspace lanes reopened as the races dash towards the heart of the once burgeoning Star Union space empire.

The game will feature a fully fledged map of the galaxy, and every campaign and skirmish map has been placed on the Star Map, showing exactly where that map is located.

The AoW fantasy world of Athla is potentially connected to the AoWP universe and placed on the Star Map, based on an interview with Lennart Sas at PDXCon2018.

These maps all have emergent story lines providing hints of past events. The overarching story comes in the form of the Campaign mode.

Technical specifications

64 bits

Improved renderer:

Full anti-aliasing support

Soft shadow support

Optimized for high res-displays (4K) Interface scaling

DirectX 11 (AoW3 uses DirectX9)

Improved multi core support

The Creator Engine 4.0 uses modified Physical Based Rendering (PBR) to render beautiful visuals!

Gains in visuals between AoW3 and Planetfall

Misc

Empire Tasks are probably kinds of AoW3's Empire Quests or Quests during the campaign

The Technologist is one such Empire Tasks

Disclaimer

Everything in this article is conjecture and picked up from forum threads, convention attendees, press sites and dev diaries. The game is a long way off and this article is not a clear representation of what the final product will be like.

Interview of Jean de Metz & Melciar - 3rd of the 2016 2vs2 PBEM Tournament (part 1)

Interested in getting some insights into the strategies of some of the best players of AoW3? Want to know what they think are the best combos and units? This is the first of a series of 3 interviews with the players who qualified for the final phase of the 2016 PBEM 2vs2 Team Tournament, which involved 16 teams.
2018-06-17 00:23:51| Posted by Hiliadan

Jean de Metz and Melciar formed "The green elephant" team for the 2016 PBEM 2vs2 Team Tournament. Outside the tournament, Jean is a member of the team King Serpents (ranked #2 of the team ranking), while Melciar is without team, but both have known each other for many years and used to play in the same community during the AoW2 and AoW2:SM era. Jean is one of the three "Masters" of AoW3 in the individual ranking and arguably one of the best PBEM AoW3 player ever. Melciar is a Veteran player, currently ranked #15, partially thanks to his team victories with Jean.
Both players speak Russian (Melciar is from Belarus), which definitely help them to play together, despite a huge skill imbalance and different personalities.

Melciar's stats: a respectable 68% win ratio, with a number of victories playing in team with Jean

Four interviews had been published for the 2015 PBEM Duel Tournament, you can find them here (check out their answers about the best units by tier, the answers are funnily always different):
- Sjow (4th)
- Fistandantilus (3rd)
- Skuns453Lirik902 (finalist)
- gabthegab (winner)

This is the first part of the interview, the second part can be read here as we were lucky to get a lot of content in the answers of Jean and Melciar! <smiletext0>

1/ First a little background on your IRL (if itâ€™s not secret!): where are you from and how old are you?

Melciar: I was born 400 years ago in the mountains of Scotland and I'm still alive...
Well, it's a joke. I'm from Belarus and I'm 33 years old.

Jean: My name is Vadim, I'm from Moscow and I'm 27 years old.

2/ When did you start playing AoW and AoW3?

Melciar: I started to play Age of Wonders 2 in 2004. Later I tried the first title of the Age of Wonders series. I have to tell you about a wonderful site, aow2.clan.su. Once it was a place where Age of Wonders 2 Russian fans used to gather and play with each other (now it is ancient ruins where archon undead units live). That solid online community appeared at the end of 2007 and games were held at least several times per week. Only online games. More players began to join us and soon we started to play tournaments. We had some foreign players too: Griffith and his brother Munatauras from Finland and Jeronimo from Argentina. Hellbrick and Jean came to play too. The former created MP Evolution mod which was pretty popular and was used even by foreign online players. The last tournament of this community was held just before the release of Age of Wonders 3. It was a good time, I would say.
Jean: It's a long story and I'm willing to tell it When I was 10 years old my mother found out that a native German had just moved to our apartment block. He was a teacher of German language and he married a Russian lady. As he lived in the same house it was really convenient for me to go to his apartment once a week and study German. He was a good teacher, it was me who didn't study well =) I have to say I was more interested in sport events, books, friends and table games at this age than in studying German. I was really stupid. He later moved to another district of Moscow and I forgot everything he taught me.
His name was Oliver and he liked strategy games a lot. While waiting for his pupils to visit him, he played several turns in Heroes of Might and Magic 2. One day I came and saw him playing a very strange game. When I asked what its name was he looked at me seriously and replied: "Age of Wonders!" He didn't show it to me because we began to study and soon I completely forgot about it. Several years later I was passing by a PC games store (there was no Steam at that time and kids had to buy games in stores) and I decided to come in. I wasn't really interested in buying anything; I just loved to watch all those disks standing on the shelves. Suddenly I saw a game and it clicked in my mind: I remembered the name! It was Age of Wonders 2. The game was brand new, I bought it and soon it became my favorite game and stayed so for many years. Later I bought the Shadow Magic expansion. Of course, I tried the first part of the series - the game my teacher played. I liked it too, especially the soundtrack. I was very happy to hear it once again, now in Age of Wonders 3.
I played Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic online for many years. We had a hamachi network where we used to gather. There was a forum of Russian fans where I met Melciar, Hellbrick and many other good players. You should read Melciar's answer to find more about it.
I started to play Age of Wonders 3 when it was released in 2013. Unfortunately, I soon ran out of free time and made a long break. Now I'm playing PBEM and I'm a real fan of it.

3/ Do you usually play AoW3 in single player, PBEM or multiplayer?

Melciar: I'm not interested in single player. At all. When I had more free time, I used to play online a lot. Now - only PBEM, with rare exceptions.

Jean: I play only PBEM. Online games take too long to play. One day I will play the campaign because I haven't played any of its scenarios at all.

Jean's impressive strings of victories, leading him to a 88% win ratio!

4/ How did you choose your combos during the tournament?
Melciar: My best combo - to team with Jean, haha. In fact, all my combos for this tournament failed to show good results. Maybe because I still consider myself to be an online player and I haven't got accustomed to PBEM yet.

Jean: Soon after I started to play in team with Melciar I found out how unprepared he was for this tournament. I had to show my best in almost every match in order to win it. Just to make sure: Melciar is a good teammate and a nice guy But he has the same problems as many other new players: once he loses an army or a town he becomes upset, demoralized and makes more mistakes. He loses interest in a match very easily so you have to be nearby and tell him everything is okay and nothing bad has happened I took strong combinations in every match and got rewarded so far. Let's see if I manage to win my next match.

5/ What is your favourite class/race and why? With what specialisations?
Melciar: My favorite class - Theocrat. Favorite race - Goblins. Specialization - Shadowborn. I consider its tier-4 units (Fallen Angels) to be epic and cool.

Jean: My favourite classes are Sorcerer and Dreadnought. Sorcerer has everything I like: Floating/ Flying invisible armies which give you an opportunity to outplay your opponents in maneuvers; perfect global spells (Glyphs of Warding, Dread Omen, Dome of Protection, Age of Magic, etc.) and really interesting battle spells. I like to play with Grey Guard as Essence Harvest gives you more casting points and its economic bonuses are really useful (you can't rely only on summons). You can also take Destruction in order to get Scorched Earth or Hasty Plunder. Sorcerer uses both spells very often since it is a very aggressive class.
As for Dreadnought, it became one of my favorite classes in online games. There you have to play a decisive tactical battle with your opponent on manual so Cannons, Flame Tanks and other class units are incredibly strong. In general, I like the variety of different tactical scenarios provided by Dreadnought. For example, it's very easy to take different mythical sites with units like Trolls, Shadow Stalkers, trained Spiders, etc. But imagine you don't have them. You have only several different Machines and Engineers to repair them. And every dangerous fight in a mythical site becomes a true challenge.
I like Human and Halfling Dreadnoughts. I'm currently playing a 3-3 game where I'm testing Tigran Dread and I believe it to be pretty good. Since Dreadnought has many different Empire Upgrades I recommend to take a specialization with no Empire Upgrades at all. Then you won't run the risk of getting wrong upgrades in the research book pools.
I often feel disappointed when I see players trying to avoid using Dreadnought class units at any cost. They build cavalry, support units or even try to level up elementals Yes, it shows how many strategies can be played by dreadnought class. But don't ignore these wonderful Machines. At least, they deserve a test.

6/ In your opinion, what are some of the best units by tier?
Melciar: Best units? I prefer mobile units which you can get very fast at the beginning of the game. I also like Draconian Flyers.

Jean: It is a tough question. Let's start with some tier 1 units. You can find a Hunter Spider Baby guarding different objects at the beginning of the game. It is a very dangerous unit and many new players don't know how to deal with it. Imagine: you don't have any casting points or damage spells, you have to approach the defenders and you need to do it very carefully because one of the Spiders can teleport and Web your unit. It can ruin your whole strategy. Two minutes ago you felt safe and self-confident but now your hero is webbed and an Ogre is approaching it...
Another special unit for me is Dwarf Axeman. Very strong in defense, can approach Archers with physical damage and block them with Defensive Strike. Let's also name the Frostling Ice Scaper. It is probably the only tier 1 unit which can remove an enemy out of combat for several turns. Ah, yes, also the Farmer The Halfling Farmer. I know that Hiliadan loves it too.
If we take tier 2 units, I'd name the Phantasm Warrior, the Banshee and the Human Priest. The latter is a perfect unit to tackle Undead and protect your creatures from mind control. If you have a stack of them you can easily take the Lich's Castle.
I have to say that I like almost all tier 3-4 units. My favorite ones are: Warbreed, Frostling Ice Queen and Shrine of Smiting (it is incredibly strong; sanctums guarded by it are the most difficult ones in my opinion).

If you're interested by competitive plays, please check this video library gathering most competitive PBEM and live MP videos.