Age Of Wonders Planetfall Empire Mode Guide

[Janyce Brits]

Inorder to avoid being overwhelmed by the amount of information found on this page, it is advised for new players to read through this guide step by step as they enter the game. The below schema contains a basic order for how to do so.

When first starting out a game of Stellaris, the player has the option to either pick one of the preset empires to start with, make one of their own, or use the 'random' button to create a completely randomized empire.For beginners, it is recommended to avoid using the 'random' button as its unpredictability can make the game harder to play. That leaves two options: preset empires and a custom-made one.

Once in-game, keep the game paused and invest some time into exploring the user interface; what the different buttons do and where they lead. Section 3 (#User interface) of this article provides a basic overview of the interface, but for an optimal experience, it is recommended that the player themselves figure out how the UI works and how to use it.

Once the aspiring player has figured out how their empire functions internally and are ready to start taking on other empires, the aforementioned sliders can be slowly raised to allow AI Empires, Fallen Empires, and other entities to spawn in controlled amounts. This can allow a new player to gradually begin to learn the basics of warfare (both offensive and defensive) and expanding and interacting with other empires through peaceful and non-peaceful means. Sections 4.4 (#Extermination) and 5.5 (#Maintaining a strong military) contain helpful information regarding fleet construction, composition, etc.

Given the amount of control the "safe environment" mentioned above provides over the map setup when starting a new game, it is highly recommended for beginning players. They can use these settings to tailor their starting setup to their liking, and to experiment their way forward when learning how to play: find out what works and what doesn't work, and try to have the most amount of fun while learning how the game works, deepening their knowledge, and sharpening their skills.

It is recommended that beginners explore the Stellaris Wiki as they explore Stellaris itself. The knowledge its articles contain is far more detailed and comprehensive than that provided here.

Before the game begins, players are instructed to select or create an empire to play as. By default, a small list of preset empires is available, each of which represents a common (real-life or science fiction) stereotype that players can also encounter in-game. The characteristics of preset empires indicate their preferred strategies such as peaceful expansion, technological superiority, and endless conquest to name a few.

The name list determines the default ship name prefix and random names for Ships, Leaders, Fleets, and Colonies. Each ship can be freely renamed in-game, though the prefix will be used for any new ship (this, too, can be edited when renaming an individual ship).

It is possible to pick the traits for their mechanical benefits, but selecting traits for role-play is also valid; as most species traits do not affect gameplay significantly, "bad" choices here don't result in the game being unplayable.

Not all traits are equally useful mechanically, even at the same point cost. Some traits are more generally beneficial for their cost, while other traits benefit more niche playstyles. Likewise, the drawbacks of some negative traits are negligible compared to the benefit of being able to select additional positive traits.

Because of the importance of research and technology, Intelligent is one of the strongest traits; likewise the Natural Engineers, Natural Physicists, and Natural Sociologists provide a strong boost to one area of research, though only one of the three can be selected.

Among negative traits, Unruly is heavily recommended, as it provides two additional points at the expense of a minimal increase in empire size. Alternatively, Deviants is also a viable choice, as pop ethics are generally of little impact and there are many sources to increase Governing Ethics Attraction to counter its effects.

Strong, and especially Very Strong, is not a good choice as the performance of Offensive Armies is heavily dependent on the base stats of the army type and their number. There are also a many sources of Army Damage improvements, diluting the influence of Strong. Moreover, when it comes to Defensive Armies, Orbital Bombardment can destroy them before the enemy armies invade the planet, making Strong moot for defensive needs. This leaves the +2.5% worker resource output, which is a tiny amount, even at one trait point. The Resilient trait suffers from the same fate as Strong, and is also not recommended.

Fleeting is unrecommended because it reduces the leader lifespan. Leaders start from 28 to 50 years old and have a base lifespan of 80 years old, which results in around 30-52 years of service. With the Fleeting trait, this can be reduced to 20-42 years, which causes experienced leaders to die sooner, and thus it becomes more difficult to cultivate highly skilled leaders through time.

Machine species is the only option for Machine Intelligence empires and cannot be used for other Authorities. They have a different set of traits, as well as fewer trait points and trait picks than biological species.

Lithoid species consume minerals instead of food. They have increased leader life span and habitability, but in return decreased pop growth speed and their leaders start older than usual (around 50-80 years old).

Their exclusive traits, namely Gaseous Byproducts, Scintillating Skin, and Volatile Excretions, are primarily useful for niche playstyles. Compared to the high upkeep cost of strategic resources for advanced buildings, the amount these traits provide is miniscule. A medium-sized empire in the mid game may produce only 2-4 of a strategic resource through these traits when dozens are required.

The starting solar system decides what the starting system contains, but not its position in the galaxy. There are several cosmetic choices: two versions each of unary systems with only one star, binary systems with two stars, or trinary systems with three stars. Alternatively, Sol or Deneb can be chosen as the starting system, where each planet will be specially named and (with Sol) Earth will also have a background story that can be read by inspecting the planetary features. Note that some human-associated events require the United Nations of Earth, the Earth Custodianship, or the Commonwealth of Man preset empires to be picked, irrespective of the system choice.

The homeworld planet class can be selected from 9 normal habitable planet classes. While they are almost identical, this determines the base habitability of the main species on other planets. Habitable planets found in the galaxy have a 80% base habitability for the main species if it is the same class as the homeworld, 60% base habitability if it is the same climate (frozen, wet, or dry), and 20% base habitability if it is of a different climate. Species have an additional +30% habitability on their homeworld.

Since the 9 planet classes all have an equal distribution rate in the galaxy, this selection is mostly cosmetic and can be picked by role-play needs. There are slight differences in resource deposit amounts for each climate class.

Remnants provides a more advanced, but still fairly simple origin, which allows starting out roughly similar to other empires with the option of eventually upgrading the capital world to an ecumenopolis.

On the Shoulders of Giants provides a rich story-based origin, with several unique events and archaeology sites. Scion is a powerful origin and an excellent starting pick for new players, as there are many bonuses and few downsides (aside from being the subject of one of the most powerful empires in the galaxy).

Ethics (also called ethos) are split into four mutually exclusive pairs or axes, and each provide some bonuses or unlock or restrict gameplay options. Each moderate ethic costs 1 ethic point and it also has a fanatic variant that costs 2 ethic points with doubled bonuses and often harsher restrictions. An empire must spend all 3 of its ethic points, meaning that an empire must have either three moderate ethics, or a fanatic ethic plus a moderate ethic. Ethics affect both how the empire functions internally and also influence the diplomacy with AI empires in many cases. Empires with aligned ethics are far more likely to succeed in mutual cooperation from initial contact (for example, Humans and Vulcans in Star Trek).

Militarist empires believe that the use of force is to eliminate all those that the empire cannot co-exist with and true peace can only be achieved through the destruction and neutralization of threats and potential threats.

Pacifist empires believe that the use of force is to eliminate war itself, keeping invaders from attempts at aggression, and true peace can only be achieved in mutually respecting and peaceful co-existence.

Gestalt Consciousness empires are not empires in the traditional sense; they are more like a single organism with a single intelligence composed of the entire population. It is the essence of "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." It is a special "ethic" lying in the center and costs all 3 ethics points. Through its unique civics, it has elements of all 4 axes. The Gestalt playstyle is completely different from standard empires and is not recommended for beginners.

Authority is the archetype of government that the empire exercises and defines how power is concentrated within the empire. Its primary purpose is to determine how often the leadership changes, i.e. how often a player can take advantage of a powerful ruler or must cope with a weak one.

Hive Mind is a special authority that requires Gestalt Consciousness ethic. They have an immortal ruler which represents their central consciousness and never hold elections. They cannot access Robots or Psionics, but have drastically faster pop growth speed and reduced penalty from empire size. While not mentioned in the game, their Leaders are also younger than usual, which amounts to more years in service compared to other empires. They have a unique set of Civics that are not shared with other Authorities.

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