History VideoGame / AgeOfWondersPlanetfall

** [[QuantumMechanicsCanDoAnything Voidtech]]: Focuses on a variety of features that let your units [[IntangibleMan walk through cover]] or [[HomingProjectile shoot through cover]], [[SendInTheClones making phantom copies of your units]] or [[CloningBlues your citizens back at home]], and messing around with [[TimeMaster time]] and [[TeleportersAndTransporters space]] in general.

* ACommanderIsYou: Much like the fantasy Age of Wonders games, your commander, units, and abilities are generally customized by two factors, their racial background and their specialty. Instead of fantasy hero classes like "Rogue," the specialty of your commander is based on what "Secret Technology" you possess.

* MagicFromTechnology: You don't cast "spells" in this game, but you do use "Operations" which are functionally identical to the spells of the fantasy Age of Wonders games, right down to the "casting limit" during combat. They're divided into Tactical Operations (which you deploy during a battle), Strategic Operations which affect the larger world map, and "Doctrine" operations which enhance your empire as a whole.

* RecurringElement: It's an Age of Wonders game, so of course it has giant, hyper-aggressive penguins. Unlike the implied demonic origin of the fantasy version, this game's incarnation is the result of a project to adapt Earth species to hostile alien environments GoneHorriblyRight.

* BladeOnAStick: Mounted Amazon troops often wield energy spears.

* AmazonBrigade: The Amazons are an all-female faction of bio engineers that fill the SpaceElves niche in the game. While their humanoid units are visibly female, their heavy units are all [[AttackAnimal living creatures modified with modern weaponry]].

* AwesomeButImpractical: Tier 4 units (Sonokarn, Zenith and the like) require a significant investment to field and have a cosmite upkeep cost. Many experienced players simply forego researching them in favor of powering up their lower tier units.

* ArtificialZombie: These make up the bulk of the Assembly's troops; they can install cybernetics in corpses, even on the battlefield, to create throwaway suicide troops. To a lesser extent, the Paragon troops are this as well; their basic troopers are mindless, make the "argh" zombie noises when selected and they often have rotted faces. The difference is that Paragon are all former Imperial nobility (or their servants) who kept themselves alive with cybernetics, so they're not undead so much as ''really'' old.

* ChainLightning: One Quartzite unit uses this as a regular attack. Syndicate and Assembly players in the late game can also make use of a weapon mod that upgrades their Arc units to do this with their attacks. One of the stronger Psynumbra units is infamous for also having an attack that functions like this, but uses [[ArmorPiercingAttack psychic energy]] instead of electricity.

* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: Attacks and hazards are colored based on their damage type: [[FireIsRed Thermal attacks are red]], [[YellowLightningBlueLightning Arc is blue]], [[TechnicolorToxin Biochemical is green]], Kinetic is yellow, [[TechnicolorMagic Psionic is purple]], and Entropy is dark blue. The two notable exceptions are Celestian Psionics, [[GoldAndWhiteAreDivine which are gold/white colored befitting their theme as a religion based around light]]; and Shakarn Sonic/Omni weapons, which mix Kinetic and Thermal damage and use Kinetic yellow ability icons, but use teal/cyan/lavender colours for their firing effects.

''Age Of Wonders: Planetfall'' is a TurnBasedStrategy game, developed by Triumph Studios and published by Creator/ParadoxInteractive. Unlike the [[VideoGame/AgeOfWonders previous]] [[VideoGame/AgeOfWonders3 games]] in the series, it is no longer just [[FantasyVideoGames fantasy]], but rather ScienceFantasy. It is also not set in the future of the original games' timeline, like ''VideoGame/EndlessSpace'' to ''VideoGame/EndlessLegend'', but operates in a whole new continuity instead, with the original races not getting carried over (though some of the old races have {{SpiritualSuccessor}}s such as the Shakarn being similar to Lizardmen).

''Age Of Wonders: Planetfall'' is a TurnBasedStrategy game, developed by Triumph Studios and published by Creator/ParadoxInteractive. Unlike the [[VideoGame/AgeOfWonders previous]] [[VideoGame/AgeOfWonders3 games]] in the series, it is no longer just [[FantasyVideoGames fantasy]], but rather ScienceFantasy. It is also not set in the future of the original games' timeline, like ''VideoGame/EndlessSpace'' to ''VideoGame/EndlessLegend'', but operates in a whole new continuity instead, with the original races not getting carried over (though some of the old races have {{SpiritualSucessor}}s such as the Shakarn being similar to Lizardmen).

''Age Of Wonders: Planetfall'' is a TurnBasedStrategy game, developed by Triumph Studios and published by Creator/ParadoxInteractive. Unlike the [[VideoGame/AgeOfWonders previous]] [[VideoGame/AgeOfWonders3 games]] in the series, it is no longer [[FantasyVideoGames fantasy]], but wholly [[ScienceFictionVideoGames sci-fi]]. It is also not set in the future of the original games' timeline, like ''VideoGame/EndlessSpace'' to ''VideoGame/EndlessLegend'', but operates in a whole new continuity instead, with the original races not getting carried over.

* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: Attacks and hazards are colored based on their damage type: [[FireIsRed Thermal attacks are red]], [[YellowLightningBlueLightning Arc is blue]], [[TechnicolorToxin Biochemical is green]], Kinetic is yellow, [[SupernaturalIsPurple Psionic is purple]], and Entropy is dark blue. The two notable exceptions are Celestian Psionics, [[GoldAndWhiteAreDivine which are gold/white colored befitting their theme as a religion based around light]]; and Shakarn Sonic/Omni weapons, which mix Kinetic and Thermal damage and use Kinetic yellow ability icons, but use teal/cyan/lavender colours for their firing effects.

* SupernaturalIsPurple: The most outwardly supernatural elements in the game are [[PsychicPowers Psionic]] and [[EntropyAndChaosMagic Entropy]], which are respectively color-coded as purple and dark blue.

* BaldWoman: The last hair style option for female heroes is a bald head.

** [[TheCracker Synthesis]]: A cybernetics-focused technology tree that lets you Integrate all of your biological, mechanical and cyborg units into an AI network, providing them with a wide variety of buffs via certain Synthesis-exclusive operations and units. They also have a plethora of options for hacking and debuffing enemy mechanical and cyborg units, but despite being advertised as one of Synthesis' main selling points, it is ultimately secondary or even tertiary to the Integration mechanics and operations.

* EarthShatteringKaboom: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in the form of a ''mountain''-shattering kaboom the Dvar can use to level an entire freaking mountain range... ''[[MundaneUtility to make room for living space!]]'' They don't use this kaboom to obliterate enemy armies, though the operation to shoot a "land missile" at an enemy army is unlocked with the same technology.

* EnergyWeapon: Laser weapons deal Thermal damage and are specialized by the Vanguards and the Amazons.

* SlaveMooks: The Syndicate's basic infantry are bonded slaves, whose service pays off the debt their family accrued. For many of them, that would take multiple generations. They can even turn the infantry of other races into these via the Control Collars mod, or treat other units they make as "indentured" with another mod. (The reason you'd want to do this is there's a few gameplay benefits, like Overseers zapping an Indentured to refresh their action points).

* ReptilianConspiracy: The Shakarn, a new faction in the second DLC ''Invasions'', appear to be heavily based on the 'conspiracy theory' version of this trope. Being a race of lizardmen who lurked outside the fringes of Star Union space, infiltrating Human societies, and stealing their Secret Techs until the collapse of the Union gave them the perfect opportunity to invade. They even have an Infiltrator unit that can mimic T1 and T2 enemy units.

* HumansAreDivided: With the exception of the [[InsectoidAliens Kir'ko]] and [[TheReptilians Shakarn]], every playable race is a HumanSubspecies that emerged after the fall of the Star Union. Four of the seven NPC factions (the Paragon, Spacers, Forgotten and Therians) are also composed of divergent/modified humans. Even the non-human factions all in some way owe what they are to the influence of the Star Union. (The Union created the robots which later became the Autonom, the Growth are the result of experimenting on a form of [[AlienKudzu rapidly growing alien flora]], and they accidentally summoned the Psi-Fish to this world through their [=VoidTech=] experiments.)

* SureLetsGoWithThat: In the Shakarn campaign. When the Shakarn, [[OutsideContextProblem alien]] [[TheReptilians reptilians]], first encounter the Therians, who are [[TranshumanAliens transhuman]] [[BeastMan beast people]], the Therians assume the Shakarn are also bio-augmented humans. The Shakarn leader hastily says they'd prefer not to talk about it, and the Therians, no strangers to being treated as freaks, don't pry any further.

* TakeThat: The flavor text for the [[TheReptilians Shakarn]] technology "Propaganda Propagation" mentions a sleeper agent named "Nolt Drampud". [[spoiler: It's an anagram for "Donald Trump"]]

* TheReptilians: The Shakarn, a new faction in the second DLC ''Invasions'', appear to be heavily based on the 'conspiracy theory' version of this trope. Being a race of lizardmen who lurked outside the fringes of Star Union space, infiltrating Human societies, and stealing their Secret Techs until the collapse of the Union gave them the perfect opportunity to invade. They even have an Infiltrator unit that can mimic T1 and T2 enemy units.

* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: Attacks and hazards are colored based on their damage type: [[FireIsRed Thermal attacks are red]], [[YellowLightningBlueLightning Arc is blue]], [[TechnicolorToxin Biochemical is green]], Kinetic is yellow, [[SupernaturalIsPurple Psionic is purple]], and Entropy is dark blue. The two notable exceptions are Celestian psi, [[GoldAndWhiteAreDivine which is gold/white colored befitting their theme as a religion based around light]]; and Shakarn sonic/omni weapons, which mix kinetic and thermal damage and use kinetic yellow ability icons, but use teal/cyan/lavender colours for their firing effects.

* SupernaturalIsPurple: The most outwardly supernatural elements in the game are [[PsychicPowers Psionic]] and [[EntropyAndChaosMagic Entropy]], which are respectively color-coded as purple and lavender.

* CyberneticsEatYourSoul: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] by the Assembly despite being [[Franchise/StarTrek Borg]] and [[VideoGame/QuakeII Strogg]] expies, as all of their units retain enough mental capacity and free will to be affected by Psionic status effects and morale. At least half of the Paragon units, on the other hand, are mindless, though that is more due to the degradation of the implants that keep them alive.
* {{Cyborg}}: The Assembly faction consists of these, and to a lesser extent, Synthesis focuses on 'Integrating' your units into a network, though it does not fully turn biological troops into cyborgs. The Paragon NPC faction are also a bunch of decrepit cyborgs.

** The flavour text for one of the objectives the game might give you for a planet in the "galactic empire" mode that came with the Star Kings DLC describes a Heritor envoy who asks you to "bust" (meaning grab or loot in the game's context) resource pickups on the map because [[Creator/NeilCicierega "bustin']] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tdyU_gW6WE makes him feel good"]].

* EarthShatteringKaboom: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in the form of a ''mountain''-shattering kaboom the Dvar can use to level an entire freaking mountain range... ''[[MundaneUtility to make room for living space!]]'' Why they never use this kaboom on anything other than a mountain range (such as an enemy city) is anyone's guess.
* ElvesVersusDwarves: The Dvar and Amazon both tend to terraform the land. In opposite ways; and the mountains Dvar raise up resist the Amazon's efforts at forestation, meaning the Amazons have reason to strike Dvar quickly before they can damage the land too much. Needless to say, a lot of the lore describes the two as going to war wherever they encounter one another.

** [[BewareTheMindReader Psynumbra]]: An offensive-focused Psionics technology tree that burns enemy minds and makes ethereal units spawn on the battlefield, born straight out of their regret. Great against anything with a mind, but their Achilles' heel is anything "Mindless" is a lot less likely to care. They also are great at destroying enemy morale in general, making them miss their shots or have rioting in their cities.

* DeveloperForesight: The archaeological dig sites have branching paths and sometimes different options to choose from, which result in different outcomes. The developers throw in extra options for player characters of a particular race or Secret Technology that can act like an instant win condition, such as Amazons using their Biomancers to perform a flawless autopsy on a dead Tyrannodon rather than the botched job someone else might do.

* EvolutionaryLevels: Xenoplague units "evolve" into bigger ones if you have the right tech for it and took the time to infect more units with parasites during battle. This is less about "adaptation" and more about how the Xenoplague units are colony creatures that pile themselves up into a bigger physical form the more biomass they acquire. Psi-Fish and Kir'ko Emergent units also "mature" into a different unit if they reach maximum experience levels.