Line #76 VideoGame/AgeOfWondersPlanetfall


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/age_of_wonders_planetfall.png]]
2	''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 spiritual successors such as the Shakarn being similar to Lizardmen).
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4	It was released on August 6th, 2019 on [[Platform/IBMPersonalComputer PC]] through Platform/{{Steam}} and Website/GogDotCom. The official website is [[https://www.aow-planetfall.com/ here]].
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6	!! Tropes present in this game:
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8	* AbsentAliens: Played around with. There's plenty of alien ''wildlife'' in the universe, but sapient beings are considerably rarer; humans and descendant offshoots of humans are the most common mostly because they discovered hyperdrive first, with only the Kir'ko insectoids being the other major alien sapients around. (Psi-fish come from another dimension entirely and not in great enough numbers to be their own empire, and the rest of the non-human sapients are typically the result of Star Union experimentation or technology run amok). Then the Shakarn showed up in ''Invasions'', surprising everyone.
9	* 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.
10	** [[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 your citizens back at home, and messing around with [[TimeMaster time]] and [[TeleportersAndTransporters space]] in general.
11	** [[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. Even mindless enemies immune to mental status ailments feel the burn as psionic weaponry blasts straight through enemy armor and almost nothing resists it.
12	** [[EnlightenmentSuperpowers Celestian]]: A defensive-focused Psionics technology that makes your units "Enlightened," granting them bonus healing and better combat against "soul-burned" enemies, who usually become so after attacking you and becoming demoralized because of it. The larger Operations can peacefully steal citizens from enemy colonies and entice them to migrate to yours or give you discounts on NPC faction units.
13	** [[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. Back home at your cities, Synthesis doctrines and upgrades make your society much more efficient overall with energy, production and the like.
14	** [[PlagueMaster Xenoplague]]: A subversive technology that poisons the battlefield; unlike other Secret Technologies, you can't manufacture its units. Instead you [[SpawnBroodling spawn them from defeated enemies]] provided you [[FaceFullOfAlienWingWong infected them with a parasite during battle]]. For your normal units, Xenoplague technology provides genetic mods to make your units stronger, regenerate health, or just be so pissed-off they're totally immune to mind control and negative morale modifiers.
15	** [[KillItWithFire Promethean]]: A highly offense-focused secret technology that focuses mostly on burning the enemy, the battlefield, and scorching away alien life (including animals and Xenoplague units). It also has some decent healing techs that use the power of fire to purify status ailments, and provides mods that let your units ignore environmental hazards (or with a mod, even ''regenerate'' while on fire).
16	** [[SoulPower Heritor]]: A religiously-themed technology that starts off slow, but rewards you for hitting enemies with [[LifeEnergy Essence]], which can be spent on various powerful abilities, making your units stronger as the enemy grows weaker. It also allows you to convert defeated enemy infantry into ghostly Drained, which can then go on to sacrifice themselves to permanently mind control other enemies.
17	* ActuallyFourMooks: Armies can include up to six units, but they'll be represented on the world map by the strongest unit in the stack (or a hero, if present).
18	* AfterTheEnd: ''Planetfall'' is set after the collapse of a galaxy-spanning human empire known as the Star Union, and the majority of races can trace their lineage to some social caste or organization that was originally part of the Union.
19	* AmazonBrigade: The Amazons are an all-female faction of bioengineers 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]].
20	* AntiFrustrationFeatures: The game expands upon this a little further than the previous title in the series, adding a button to undo the last movement action of a unit in tactical combat (provided they did not use any other ability or take damage in the process) in the event of movement misclicks, and a button after combat to retry the battle manually if autoresolve kills your favorite unit or you think you can do better on the second try.
21	* TheApunkalypse: Invoked by the Spacers. Originally the Star Union's lower class, they spent most of their time [[BreadAndCircuses doing drugs and playing ultraviolent virtual reality sims]]. When the collapse happened, they made post-apocalyptic video games their reality. [[HiddenDepths Their quests indicate that a lot of them are sick of it]].
22	* ArtificialAnimalPeople: The Therians were once humans before they were experimented on with animal DNA and became animal-human hybrids. They were used in experiments to cure diseases and create superior beings until their first test subject, known as "The Deer", exposed the horrible truth of the experiments. Since the shutdown of these horrid projects, they occupied many planets as refugees, belonging to neither human nor animals and are no longer welcome in society, yet remain positive on life.
23	* ArtificialBrilliance: The tactical AI coordinating the movement of units outside of battles can competently execute a surprising number of nasty tactics. Standout examples include launching diversionary invasions while sending elite armies to capture poorly-defended cities on the opposite end of their target's empire, evacuating seriously threatened cities and then swarming the invaders once they're too deep in enemy territory to retreat, and hiding ambushes on the far side of teleporters. At the strategic level, the AI will iteratively improve its unit mods based on performance and will steadily expand until all available land on any given map is colonized, though both processes only shine on the highest difficulties, where the AI receives enough free resources to afford all of the mods and Colonizers.
24	* ArtificialLimbs: The Assembly is a cyborg faction, and so adores this trope. Even their basic troops replace one arm with a shotgun, instead of just holding one. Users of the Synthesis secret technology, though they're subtler about it, are the same. To say nothing of what happens when the Assembly uses Synthesis.
25	* ArtificialStupidity: The strategic AI often leaves much to be desired in terms of willingness to take risks and choosing and changing unit mods, and while the tactical AI is often considered to be an overall improvement over previous games, it still struggles with certain unit abilities and often insists on using up every single secondary and tertiary ability on each and every unit over the often more effective primary attacks. Notable offenders in this regard are Vanguard Troopers, Syndicate Indentured and pretty much any unit that has a grenade or grenade-like ability (either innate or acquired through mods and gear), who will often suicidally rush the nearest enemy in an effort to rid themselves of their grenades asap, or units like Shakarn Tacticians, Syndicate Overseers and Heritor Siphoners, who have a tendency of obliviously and blindly applying their ExtraTurn abilities to units that still have at least one action point left, and only rarely using it on a unit that has none remaining.
26	* 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 that have degraded over time, so they're not undead so much as ''really'' old.
27	* AttackDrone: The Vanguard support units, like the flying OWL and ever-helpful PUG, which can blast enemies with lasers when not painting a target on them or healing soldiers.
28	* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: Two of the tallest units in the game are the Plague Lord, the final evolution of the Xenoplague creatures, and the Arborean Queen of the Amazon roster. Though neither of them can compare to the Dvar Earth Crusher, a vehicle so massive that it blocks line of sight instead of merely counting as cover.
29	* AwesomeButImpractical: Unlike other 4X games like ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'', each and every single unit class is unique. Earlier-tier units aren't replaced by stronger variations of basically the same thing as more stuff is researched. Stuff like Vanguard Troopers will ''always'' be in vogue, and with proper modding support they can take down things a lot bigger than them. Later-tier units, on the other hand, will become prohibitively expensive in production cost, energy cost and upkeep and the need for Cosmite to build them ''without'' the necessary mods, which costs even more Cosmite and energy. This means that tried-and-true squad builds from the early game, which will come out hand-over-fist with later-game income supporting them, will often take precedence over the bigger, badder units.
30	** This is only mostly true however in short, rush-based games, due to the concept of "Stack Density". A group of T3 units is inherently "denser" and concentrates more force in a given area than one made entirely of T1 and T2 units, and even one T3 unit with three cheap mods can be an excellent force multiplier in the mid or (assuming you went for a tech rush) early game. During particularly long matches, a player focused on building more T3s can potentially easily dominate stacks full of even modded T1s and T2s without suffering too much attrition, forcing the other player to be more tricky and underhanded with their approach.
31	** T4 units, as purely combat units. There ARE ways to get them out much easier: the vehicles can serve as mounts for heroes once they unlock Advanced Piloting, they can be bought as NPC/Dwelling purchases, or conjured as rare summons from the Amazon "Clone Predators" operation, or the respective Psynumbra/Celestian T4 Special Operations. Building them, on the other hand, is incredibly costly in Production, Energy and Cosmite (which they also cost every turn in maintenance), making amassing armies of them impractical even on the largest and resource-abundant maps. Many have extremely strong abilities which are otherwise inaccessible however; the key is to integrate them in armies of lesser troops as powerful support units.
32	* BadPowersGoodPeople: Psynumbra is [[DarkIsEvil positively dripping with malevolence]], but it ''can'' be directed to positive causes. Most prominently, the Hero of the Kir'ko campaign, Poz Tk'Nor, is a devout follower of the "Harmony", but starts out as and can be played through as a seeker of reconciliation who walks a path of balance between his dark powers and those of Celestians he can ally with.
33	* BlackAndGreyMorality: The majority of factions and secret techs are grey -- even Celestian has some [[GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul sinister undertones]]. But then Psynumbra is entirely devoid of redeeming qualities; it's all about pain, suffering, cruelty, and despair.
34	** Most of the protagonist commanders in the story missions are solidly "grey" so they can be written as justified for either destroying their enemies with force or winning the game with diplomacy.
35	* BodyHorror: Many of The Assembly's troops are built with pure "efficiency" in mind, and so possess bodies that are gruesomely mangled and reshaped by the technology in order to fit more weapons or armor inside.
36	* BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood: One of the options available to Celestian players - if you can't preach to the enemy to make them join you, just use your psychic powers to make them believe in your "truth" instead!
37	* BugWar: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] by the backstory. Humanity was at war with a hiveminded race of psionic insectoid aliens, except here it's ''humanity'' that was villainously trying to subjugate the ''bugs''.
38	* CardCarryingVillain: Factions with the Psynumbra secret tech are gleefully psychotic and unapologetic about using the darkest potential of psychic powers for domination.
39	** It is rare to see an Assembly commander that isn't cackling over the prospect of turning you into spare parts (with the possible exception of a certain Celestian Assembly guy), and most Xenoplague-using commanders are placed in an antagonistic relationship to you.
40	*** At one point in the ''Revelations'' campaign, you run into a Psynumbra Assembly commander. Perhaps unsurprisingly, his official title is "High Priest of the Chapel of Abyssal Edgelords".
41	* CausedTheBigBang: The FlavorText narrator for one particular explosives-oriented item in the research tree philosophically discusses explosions, points out how the big bang was an explosion, then ponders [[NightmareFuel what exactly]] [[EldritchAbomination God was trying to kill]] [[GodOfEvil with said explosion]].
42	* ChainsawGood: The Assembly's "Reverse Engineer" fights with a buzzsaw. One uncommon Hero item, the so-called 'Dindin', bears resemblance to a [[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 Chainsword]].
43	* ChainsawGripBFG: Present on numerous units and hero weapons like [[KillItWithFire Promethean Purifiers]], [[ShockAndAwe Assembly Electrocutioners]], the Dvar [[GatlingGood Rotary Autocannon]], and the Shakarn [[SnakePeople Deadeyes']] [[MixAndMatchWeapon Omni-Cannon]].
44	* ChainLightning: One Quartzite unit uses this as a regular attack. Syndicate, Assembly and Oathbound 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.
45	* CivilWarcraft: Very common, particularly in the campaign. Several campaigns have a [[ArcVillain primary antagonist]] of your faction (Amazon, Assembly), and most of the others see the player going up against their own kind for different reasons. The factions aren't particularly united.
46	* ColourCodedElements: Attacks, hazards, weapons and even some units 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 in the expansions 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 a mix of teal, cyan and lavender for their firing effects.
47	* CombatTentacles:
48	** Assembly's "Reverse Engineers" are essentially undead human torsos that drag themselves on the ground with their human arms, while carrying a buzzsaw, an electric blaster and repair tools in its six robotic tentacles.
49	** The [[PlantPerson Growth]]. Many, ''many'' of their units utilize plant tentacles to do damage in melee.
50	** Xenoplague's Plague Lords can lacerate enemies with tentacles in melee.
51	* CoolVsAwesome: All of the factions seem designed to invoke this.
52	* CreatingLifeIsBad: the FlavorText for the research item that unlock the [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever Plague Lord]] for Xenoplague players delivers a very typical remark about hubris and playing God.
53	* CriticalExistenceFailure: As with previous ''Age of Wonders'' titles, units that have even a sliver of health left are still just as dangerous as fresh combatants. Downplayed with units that consist of multiple individuals, as the troops fall dead one by one as the unit takes more damage -- but the last man standing [[ConservationOfNinjutsu will still somehow put out enough firepower to equal all of his dead teammates combined]].
54	* CrueltyIsTheOnlyOption: Since the Syndicate has slave troops and one of the primary ways of buffing them to replenish their action points is an overseer jabbing them with a stick, there's no real non-morally-questionable way to play as them.
55	* CyberneticsEatYourSoul: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] by the Assembly despite being heavily inspired by the [[Franchise/StarTrek Borg]] and [[VideoGame/QuakeII Strogg]], as all of their units retain enough mental capacity and free will to be affected by Psionic status effects and morale, and their colonists are still affected by happiness and unhappiness. On the other hand, at least half of the Paragon units are mindless, though that is more due to the degradation of the implants that keep them alive.
56	* {{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 a bunch of decrepit cyborgs.
57	* DamageTyping: In the base game, there are five attack damage types: Kinetic, Arc, Biological, Thermal, and Psionic. Each units have attacks that inflict damage based on those types, each races have their specialization in certain damage types, and secret technology that also add these damage types. The Revelations DLC adds a sixth damage type: Entropy, used by the Heritors and the Forgotten NPC faction from that expansion.
58	* DevelopersForesight: 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.
59	* DomesticatedDinosaurs: The Amazons have Tyrannodons. They're more like the reptilian dinosaurs of old than what we now know dinosaurs to be like, but that's because they're actually domesticated alien creatures. Also, they put lasers on said dinosaurs.
60	* DrillTank: Dvar have this as one of their heavy vehicles, which can tunnel underground and emerge behind the enemy lines, triggering a seismic charge. It can also become a vehicle Dvar heroes can equip.
61	* 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 massive ''subterranean torpedo'' at an enemy army is unlocked with the same technology.
62	* ElvesVersusDwarves: The Dvar and Amazon both tend to terraform the land, in opposite ways. The Dvar crush mountains down to dust and eventually "fertile plains," or even to barren wastelands with their ultimate unit. This opposes 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.
63	* EnclosedExtraterrestrials: The Dvar, much like Mass Effect's quarians, are stuck living their whole lives in environemntal suits that, oddly, ''all'' seem to double as suits of PoweredArmor, although this could be explained by the fact that the only Dvar who ever get any actual screentime are soldiers on the battlfield. The trope is [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] however, in that the Dvar are actually none-too-distantly descended from humans.
64	* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: One of the ending conditions for random scenarios is "Doomsday." It's all about building a DoomsdayDevice and reducing the planet you're inhabiting to easily conquered rubble, and each secret tech has their own way of doing it.
65	** For the Celestians, this is The Final Revelation, which uses psychic waves to [[BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood brainwash everyone in the world into accepting the Celestians' "truth"]]. This is a ApocalypseHow/Class2 end of the world, as it doesn't destroy anything, but rather collapses every society other than the player's.
66	** For the Prometheans, Planetary Purification floods the atmosphere with [=PyrX=] gas, incinerating the entire world and causing a ApocalypseHow/Class6 end, extinction of all life. One of the silver-class landmarks you can find are Promethean bunkers, which they had planned to use to allow themselves and their followers to survive.
67	** For Psynumbra, Oblivio Mundi floods the world with evil psychic waves, forcing everyone to go BrainwashedAndCrazy, and kill each other and themselves, likely causing a ApocalypseHow/Class5 multi-species extinction event and leaving only mindless creatures behind.
68	** For Xenoplague, Omega Awakening infects everyone on the planet with a super virus called the Omega Strain. Implied to be less about destruction and more forcibly "evolving" everyone into xenoplague creatures.
69	** For Voidtech, Dimensional Cascade opens portals to every parallel universe that exists - an infinite number - and channels all of the energy from all of them. The class of this is unknown, as the tech itself explicitly states that no one can possibly understand what will happen as a result of this... it could provide unlimited free energy to everyone and create a glorious utopia... or it could create a ApocalypseHow/ClassZ omniversal destruction event.
70	** For Synthesis, this is The Singularity, which hacks all computer systems on the planet through the Synthesis' Basilisk Network, putting all electronics under the player's control. The result is a ApocalypseHow/Class2 event as every other faction is forced to either surrender or abandon all of their technology.
71	** For Heritors, it's Final Transcendence, which is actually something of a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]], in that it doesn't directly kill anyone. Rather, it summons a legion of Es'Teq Minds to [[DemonicPossession start systematically overtaking every important enemy]], until all your rivals have been so completely dominated by them they can no longer reasonably put up any resistance.
72	* EnemyExchangeProgram: As with the rest of the Age of Wonders games, you may choose to absorb an enemy colony as it is, instead of razing it or replacing the population with your own race, thus allowing you to research that race's technology and incorporate their units into your armies. In the case of one race, the Shakarn, they can unlock another race's technology and mods through the Infiltrate covert ops without having to absorb their colonies.
73	* EnergyWeapon: Laser weapons deal Thermal damage and are a specialty of the Vanguard, Amazon and Shakarn. The Promethean secret tech also makes heavy use of these in the form of plasma or flame-based weapons that use a fantastical fuel called [=PyrX=].
74	* EvilVersusEvil: The final mission of the campaign is set in an all-out war between the forces of Empress Carminia and CORE, the former of which is responsible for some truly spectacular atrocities (including the death of trillions during the Cataclysm) while the latter intends to do something about TheEvilsOfFreeWill. You can join either side or TakeAThirdOption and kick them both out of the galaxy, though that is the path of most resistance, as virtually every faction will be fighting you in the final battle.
75	* 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, Kir'ko Emergent and certain animal units also "mature" into a different unit if they reach maximum experience levels.
76	* {{Expy}}: The Assembly Scavenger unit is very similar to the Strogg from ''VideoGame/QuakeII'', including having one of their arms replaced by a shotgun.
77	* FaceFullOfAlienWingWong: Xenoplague units are spawned by infecting enemies with a parasite during battle (provided you kill them and win), but an even more direct example are the Psi-Fish's Siren units, who can actually implant an egg in an enemy right during battle with one of their basic units. The poor afflicted enemy unit will run around in a panic for two turns before dying and being replaced with a Psi-Fish under your control. The icon for the Siren's implant ability even directly resembles a Facehugger on a human head.
78	* TheFederation: Canonically, the neutral faction wins the final campaign mission, and founds the Egalitarian League of Planets.
79	* FriendlyFireproof: The Dvar have excelled at developing explosives to the point that they can eventually research mods that allows their explosive-equipped units to avoid all friendly fire when detonating them.
80	* FriendToAllLivingThings: Except their enemies, that is. The Amazons operate their wars off this trope. They receive bonuses to movement within dense forests and jungles, and their "heavy weapons" are all living creatures of one type or another that they have either domesticated or genetically engineered to serve a specific role in combat.
81	* FungusHumongous: A new type of enemy in ''Star Kings'' is Mycelians, which are invading mushrooms infesting gardening robots. They are probably the only cyborg enemy in the game that counts as a plant-type.
82	* FunWithAcronyms:
83	** The Autonom Golem, a melee-based robotic unit, possesses two main attacks: the Tactical F.A.C.E. (Forcefully Applied Contact Explosive) and the area-affecting B.O.M.B. (Body Originating Mass Blast).
84	** The Assembly's T4 unit, the vampire-esque Reaver, is controlled by an Intelligent Neural Interface & Oracular Conscience Hypercore or I.N.I.O.C.H., according to the quote in its flavor text.
85	** The sentient computer network that helped the emperors of the Star Union run their massive empire is called C.O.R.E (the Conscientious Omnipresent Regency Engine).
86	* GatlingGood: The Dvar Bulwark mech, which is equipped with two six-barreled autocannons mounted on either side of the cockpit. The exosuits of the Dvar Barons also wield one of these and heroes can either pilot the same exosuits or carry the same gun.
87	* GiantFlyer: These are part of the world's aggressive fauna, which is liable to attack any faction. Some of said fauna are, in fact, wild versions of some of the creatures used by the Amazons.
88	* GoneHorriblyRight: The Star Union engaged in genetic modification to adapt earth penguins to hostile alien environments. They succeeded beyond their worst nightmares.
89	* GreenThumb: The Amazons have this, to some extent. One of their early tactical operations protects and heals a friendly unit with roots at the cost of temporarily immobilizing them, while a later strategic operation allows them to cover almost an entire sector in forests. Their Arborian units are tree-like creatures capable of entangling enemies in combat.
90	* GrewBeyondTheirProgramming: The Autonom minor faction were originally a network of civil service droids. After the Collapse and the destruction of their commanding AI, the droids developed sapience and started to build a new network with the goal of self-preservation.
91	* HalfHumanHybrid: The Therians, a new NPC faction from the ''Invasions'' DLC, are described as being a group of warriors that have 'accelerated their evolution' by fusing their DNA with that of animals. Their units resemble humans with animal heads and other various animalistic traits.
92	* HappyEndingOverride: The canonical ending of the campaign, [[EarnYourHappyEnding after much suffering]], is the formation of [[TheFederation the Egalitarian League of Planets]], which seeks to unity the galaxy under a far more tolerant banner than that of the old Star Union. Then comes ''Invasion'', and [[OutsideContextProblem the Shakarn throw a monkey wrench into that]].
93	* HealItWithFire: The Prometheans can attach the "[=PyrX=] Absorption Panels" mod onto any cyborg, mechanical or biological unit which allows them to regenerate while standing in flames. An earlier Promethean mod, the "Purification Field", is a medkit that also makes use of this to heal and dispel debuffs from the target friendly unit.
94	* {{Hellfire}}: [=PyrX=], the source of all Promethean technology, is a sci-fi version of this with all the classic traits except for the mystical origin. Unlike many fictional incendiaries, it's a super-''oxidizer'' rather than a super-fuel, so it'll cause unquenchable fires even in vacuum...
95	* HiveMind: The Kir'ko ''used'' to have one of these, until human genetic modification lobotomized their queens. Some Kir'ko hives want to bring it back; others want to leave the past behind and go forward as individuals. They still have latent telepathy because of it.
96	* HorseOfADifferentColor: Some of the "vehicles" available are actually mounts; the Amazons and Kir'ko are particularly fond of these.
97	** Amazons use genetically engineered cavalry in place of vehicles. The [[DomesticatedDinosaurs Tyrannodon]] is the most iconic, but there are also Lancers who ride Swift Beaks, a sort of a striped lizard-tiger thing, and the flying, laser-armed, pterosaur-like Harriers. Amazons sometimes even mount secret tech units that are normally infantry; their [=VoidTech=] Echo Walkers ride Swift Beaks, while their Celestian Light Bringers swoop on their foes on Harriers.
98	** The larger Kir'ko castes usually operate independently, but can be ridden by a hero; usually, but not always, that hero will be a Kir'ko swarm herald. Though in the case of some mounts, such as the Engulfer, the Hero is not visible on the model, implying that some of the Kir'ko castes are actually [[OrganicTechnology biological mecha]] or that the Hero ''becomes'' that caste until they are somehow changed back to normal.
99	* HughMann: In one of the flavour texts for Shakarn units, the government official insisting that ProperlyParanoid agent Dan Cranny's warnings about reptilian infiltrators are pure fantasy is named "Director [[PunnyName S. Kay Lee]]".
100	* HumanPopsicle:
101	** All of the soldiers and colonists of the Vanguard spent two hundred years in cryosleep. According to the Amazon commander, that was enough time for the Star Union they were meant to uphold to collapse while they were in transit. Undeterred, they intend to restart it regardless, starting with the world they are on.
102	** You can also find old cryogenics laboratories in the world as a high-level landmark. Annexing them into your territory unlocks an operation that allows you to thaw out some of the people inside, boosting the population of your cities at the cost of some temporary unhappiness as the new arrivals briefly struggle with fitting in to your society.
103	* HumansAreDivided: With the exception of the [[InsectoidAliens Kir'ko]] and [[ReptilianConspiracy 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.)
104	* HumansArePsychicInTheFuture: At least, those of the Syndicate. They wield potent psionic powers to supplement their conventional arms. Other human factions, unless they take the Celestian or Psynumbra secret techs, make do without.
105	* HumanSubspecies: The [[OneGenderRace Amazons]], [[{{Heavyworlder}} Dvar]] and [[HumansArePsychicInTheFuture Syndicate]] are humans who followed very different evolutionary paths after being separated from the rest of humanity by the fall of the Star Union.
106	* HumongousMecha: The Vanguard Walker and the Promethean Phoenix Walker, as well as the occasional Imperial Walker that can be found in neutral guarding stacks (often those aligned with the Paragon) or as a site-clearing reward. The Paragon Heavy Soldier, which resembles a stumpier and heavily worn-down version of the Vanguard and Imperial Walkers, is also this in spirit, albeit it is classified as a cyborg instead of a mechanical unit.
107	** The third DLC, ''Star Kings'', introduces the Oathbound, a race that makes heavy use of towering battlesuits called Paladins. The ''Triceratops'' patch that came with Star Kings also retroactively added the battlesuit tag to the four units mentioned above as well as the MiniMecha listed further down below, allowing them to equip mods that were previously meant primarily or exclusively for infantry and mounted units.
108	* ImAHumanitarian: Psi-Fish think that humans are ''delicious''. This isn't out of any particular malice, they just have very different standards compared to humans (or kir'ko) and they think that telling you you smell nice is a compliment. They still eat people, though.
109	* InsectoidAliens: The Kir'ko are these, but play with it; they're not evil mindless bugs, but a sophisticated civilization oppressed by humanity.
110	* {{Irony}}: The scene in the announcement trailer where the Vanguard troops are engaged in a stand-off with both the bug-like Kir'ko on one side and the Amazons on the other has Vanguard's propaganda poster with the message of "Reaching Together" as the background.
111	* KarmaMeter: Here it's called a "reputation" meter, and it goes both ways. Disreputable faction commanders will like you more if you do more "disreputable" stuff, but it's not directly tied to certain abilities, just who's the most forgiving of your actions. Usually striking deals and doing NPC quests will help your reputation grow, and NPC units are cheaper to buy with influence if you have a sterling reputation.
112	* KillItWithFire: The "Promethean" Secret Technology tree is based around fire, blowing stuff up with fire, forging stuff with fire, dropping orbital napalm strikes to cover the battlefield with fire, terraforming the land with explosives, and melting enemies' faces off (with fire). It also has techs that protect your faction from the negative effects of all that fire, allowing you to inhabit volcanic or radioactive regions with few ill effects and no morale penalties, and even actively buff or [[HealItWithFire heal]] your troops with it.
113	* LogicalWeakness: Cyborg units usually benefit from anything that can benefit a biological ''or'' mechanical unit, but they also suffer from being able to be affected by any debuff that works on those things. As compensation, they are 10% more resistant to status ailments in general.
114	* LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe: The Dvar's main infantry, the Trenchers, who carry heavy shields, and can dig them into the ground to provide cover even out in the open. "Fortified" Trenchers can even make mini-fortresses that heal the occupant, making them extremely tough to dig out. To a lesser extent, the Amazon Lancers as well, whose riders carry an energy buckler that somehow provides a generous amount of protection in defensive mode. And the Paragon Guards, who are particularly vulnerable to flanking attacks, more so than Dvar Trenchers or Vanguard Bikes.
115	* 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.
116	* {{Magitek}}: In so far as PsychicPowers are the game's stand in for magic, Syndicate "[=PsiTec=]" qualifies. They have guns and even vehicles that can "shoot" psionic damage at enemies.
117	* MakeMeWannaShout: The Shakarn in ''Invasions'' make use of sonic weaponry as one of their weapon techs. They even combine it with lasers, resulting in their [[MixAndMatchWeapon Omni Weaponry]], making them one of the very few users of attacks with multiple damage channels in the game (the others being the Syndicate versions of Psynumbra infantry, if their damage is converted with mods, and units that are affected by the Heritor Ark's damage buff ability).
118	* MiniMecha: The Dvar Bulwark and Baron units are this.
119	* MookMedic: Every faction has these. Some, like The Assembly's Reverse Engineer, can also revive fallen allies - or revive enemy fallen as allies.
120	* MortonsFork: AI leader personality traits can occasionally lead to interesting dilemmas in diplomacy. The "Loyal" trait means the leader will dislike anybody who breaks a diplomatic agreement. Silliness ensues when a Loyal ally demands that you join their war on another AI that you have some sort of agreement with:
121	** Refuse? That counts as breaking the alliance, and that leader will now hate you forever.
122	** Declare war? The leader will now hate you forever for breaking an agreement they ''demanded'' you break just a turn ago.
123	* MythologyGag:
124	** Many of the unit flavor texts are written from the perspective of one Mah Reg'nib, also described in an NPC conversation as short but very amiable. This is of course the sci-fi version of the original Age of Wonders series' own Ham Binger, luckiest halfling alive...
125	** It's an Age of Wonders game, so ''of course'' there are giant penguins, and ''of course'' they're creatures of pure malice. This time around of course they aren't demonic but rather the result of some very ill-advised genetic modification.
126	** As mentioned earlier, the flavor text for the Assembly Reaver has an acronym that spells INIOCH, the name of the undead elf king and primary villain of the first Age of Wonders.
127	* NeverTrustATrailer: The story trailer has Jack Gelder, default leader of the Vanguard in their campaign missions, landing on a planet and immediately ending up waving guns at the local Kir'ko and Amazons by being a complete GeneralRipper. In the campaign, Jack's first conflict is with other Vanguard who've become little more than bandits after the Star Union's fall, and his first encounter with the Kir'ko is freeing a group of them from Syndicate slavers. (He can still be a {{Jerkass}} and pick a fight with them afterwards, but he never ''has'' to end up in conflict with the Kir'ko and can easily become one of their best allies in the Vanguard.)
128	* NightmareFetishist: The Assembly are amalgamations of human flesh and mechanical components -- not necessarily formed into humanoid shape -- that live in rusted, electrified scrap heap cities bristling with SpikesOfVillainy. And many of them, including campaign protagonist and Assembly First Ellen Shaw, ''love'' it.
129	* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: The Tyrannodon -- a genetically engineered lizard/dinosaur with a laser cannon strapped to its head.
130	* NoExperiencePointsForMedic: Averted, though unlike in the [[VideoGame/AgeOfWonders3 previous game]], this is not because support units also gain XP for using their special abilities, but rather because XP is now awarded evenly across all of the victorious players' units in a battle, with the amount depending on the enemies killed.
131	* NoGearLevel: No matter what amazing weapons and mods your spectacularly overpowered campaign heroes collected over the past two missions...for the final free-for-all on Mora Secundis, they start back at zero with their default loadout. And that final mission is ''really'' stingy with good hero gear drops because of how it's set up. [[note]] You mostly get the good stuff from exploring high-value landmarks, but all of those start out already occupied by either Autonom or Paragon in the final mission.[[/note]]
132	* OneGenderRace: The Amazons became this. The reason why "is a closely guarded secret" and they reproduce using technology.
133	* OrderVsChaos: The second Assembly mission is a struggle between [=L0G3N-1=] and his fellow second-generation Assembly leaders and the first-generation Assembly loyal to CORE over the future of the Assembly. [=L0G3N's=] side favors a chaotic approach (and thus constant evolution), while the CORE loyalists seek eternal, unchanging order. Protagonist Ellen Shaw can join either side.
134	* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: The Dvar faction is a pretty traditional rendition, to the point their armour suits have metal beards. As a faction, they are also geared towards slow but heavily armed and armoured units, and excel at production and mining. The primary twist is that they have Slavic names and accents, rather than the typical Scottish deal dwarves have.
135	* OurWeaponsWillBeBoxyInTheFuture: Played straight with the Vanguard's weapons, and those purchased from the Paragon.
136	* OutsideContextProblem:
137	** The Shakarn from the ''Invasions'' DLC are this, being virtually unknown to the wider Star Union (with the Kir'ko being the only documented sapient alien species to the Star Union) and appearing seemingly without warning after its collapse.
138	** The same DLC also introduces the Voidbringers, who are a late-game threat reminiscent of the crises from {{VideoGame/Stellaris}}. So far, the Voidbringers are described as distant relatives of the Psi-Fish who use enslaved thralls as their troops, and like the Shakarn, have chosen to invade after the fall of the Star Union.
139	* OverworldNotToScale: The case like with all Grand Strategy games, as your basic foot-soldiers probably aren't actually the size of small skyscrapers.
140	** [[PlayingWithATrope ...With the very confusing exception]] of one main menu loading screen depicting a vast countryside plain, with several Dvar grunts in the foreground depicted on the scale used in ''tactical combat'' (a reasonable [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame 5ft-ish]]), with the distant background containing a [[TheJuggernaut Dvar Earth Crusher]] depicted on the scale used ''in the overworld'' (the size of a ''freaking mountain''). For reference, the Earth Crusher's model stands at a "mere" 5-ish stories in actual tactical combat.
141	* {{Planimal}}: The Amazons' Arborian units are classified as both plant and animal.
142	* PowerFist:
143	** Dvar Foremen only carry a fairly weak hand mortar as a ranged weapon. When something really needs killing they instead rely on the gauntlets of their PowerArmor. The unit description states that it breaks through "rocks and monsters alike".
144	** Syndicate Enforcers use Psi-Tec Gauntlets in melee that inflict brutal damage by bypassing both armor and shields.
145	** Several varieties are also available as hero equipment, including the Tyrant Fist which combines this trope with a powerful laser cannon.
146	* PsychicPowers: The Psynumbra and Celestian secret techs let any faction play with these, while the Syndicate and Kir'ko always get them.
147	* PurpleIsPowerful: With the exception of Celestian abilities, PsychicPowers are colored purple. Purple also features heavily in the Syndicate's color scheme, befitting a group of merchant princes who like to flaunt their wealth and power (as well as heavily using [[MagiTek PsiTec]] in their units and structures).
148	* RammingAlwaysWorks: Dvar heavy vehicles straight-up ram enemies to damage them. This includes their ''air vehicles.'' And yes, the plane survives the attack.
149	* 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.
150	* ReinventingTheWheel: A JustifiedTrope this time around. Research isn't about rediscovering basics for the nth time so much as conquering the challenges of redeploying it on a brand new world when you're starting with nothing but a small colony ship.
151	* TheRemnant:
152	** The Vanguard, thanks to cryogenic hibernation, are the only playable faction that directly hails from the fallen Star Union, as well as consisting of the pre-Collapse human species. They have every intention of rebuilding the Union, starting with the world they land on.
153	** The Paragons, an NPC faction, are composed of the Star Union's former elites, politicians and aristocrats, who survived the Collapse through life-extending medical technology and implants.
154	** At the end of their campaign, the Shakarn expeditionary forces end up in this position [[spoiler: due to their homeworlds and their entire empire having been eaten by the Voidbringers]].
155	* ReptilianConspiracy: The Shakarn, a new faction in the second DLC ''Invasions'', appear to be heavily based on 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.
156	* RestartTheWorld: This is the goal of The Assembly faction, who intend to destroy the entire universe and then rebuild it into perfect order.
157	* SapientCetaceans: Octowhales. They roam wild on any planet with an ocean. The Amazons have also managed to ally with some of them and they form the faction's naval forces, with the Amazons' only mechanical unit (aside from their Turrets, Pylons, and Colonizer) being a ship ''piloted'' by an Octowhale.
158	* ScavengerWorld: Most of the post-Cataclysm worlds have at least some scavenging, but the first world you start on in the Assembly campaign is ''covered'' in garbage and ruins, with sub-objectives to scout around and collect as many pick-ups as possible.
159	* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: Averted. Every campaign is actually on a different planet, with each one being the different factions trying to establish themselves; thus, the planet's drama is ultimately a smaller scale of a much bigger political war.
160	* SealedEvilInACan: The "treasure" you're hunting for in the first Syndicate mission turns out to be [[spoiler: a very dangerous viral AI.]]
161	* {{Sexbot}}: The E:Bot - ROY-2 and EMMA-3 are robots built for personal service and pleasure. As combat units, the E:Bots raise morale to adjacent allies and can emit pheromones to debilitate enemies. For example, ROY-2 emits distracting pheromones that cause attacks to more likely fumble, while EMMA-3 emits love pheromones that mind control your target.
162	* SkillGateCharacters: Downplayed, Synthesis with its advertised emphasis on machines may be confusing to use at first compared to the rest of the Secret Technologies, especially if you play as a faction that doesn't have a lot of mechanical or cyborg units (and thus are not automatically Integrated without a mod), but its ability to manipulate the battlefield and buff your troops is without equal. The Network Link unit can reset once-per-battle abilities and refresh itself by downloading data from enemy corpses, allowing for a clever player to decimate the battlefield.
163	* 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 low tier biological, cyborg and battlesuit units of other races into these via the Control Collars 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).
164	* ShieldBash: The Dvar Trencher has a shield that it uses as a melee weapon, and it can [[PunchedAcrossTheRoom knock back]] enemies one hex away.
165	* ShockAndAwe: Arc weapons, beloved of the Synthesis secret tech and the Syndicate and Assembly factions, though others can get them by modifying their conventional or biochemical weapons as well.
166	* ShortRangeShotgun: Downplayed. While the effective range of shotguns is certainly smaller than that of assault rifles and the like, it is still a ranged attack, and will damage aerial units and the like.
167	* ShoutOut:
168	** The male androids sometimes seen in Paragon/Autonom stacks and marauder groups [[Film/BladeRunner are called Roy-2]].
169	** One of the research technologies has a Jonathan Crane talk about 'delicious fear'.
170	** When playing as the cyborg Assembly in random scenarios, the introduction warns you that not all will be servile and you will face resistance. [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration It fails to elaborate on whether said resistance will be futile.]]
171	*** The question is answered by the Steam achievement for beating a game as an Assembly Commander, the "Resistance is Futile" achievement.
172	** The flavour text for the Shakarn Firebrand unit's database entry details the complaint of one [[Creator/GuillermoDelToro July Del'Torus]] about censors making silly excuses for disapproving his design for a lizard-crab kaiju in his [[Film/PacificRim next movie]] and suspecting a conspiracy behind it.
173	** The flavour text for one of the objectives the game might give you for a planet in the "galactic empire" mode introduced in the free update 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"]].
174	* SiliconBasedLife: One frequently-encountered group of marauders are the Quartzites, mineral creatures divided into two types: crystal types who use arc-based attacks, and magma types who use thermal-based attacks. The ''Star Kings'' expansion also introduces the Psionica, psychic rock creatures that [[AbstractEater feed on minds]].
175	* SpikesOfVillainy:
176	** They're all over the Spacers NPC faction (a collection of drug-addled violent lunatics who treat life as a video game) as part of their post-apocalyptic desertpunk aesthetic.
177	** The Assembly are not ''necessarily'' villainous (their Hat is ForScience) but they do love the spiky look.
178	** The Shakarn, a nefarious race of alien invaders, sport lots of spike-like visuals on their gear, ranging from encrusted rock on their otherwise-smooth starships to metal prongs jutting from armor components.
179	* SpoilerTitle: The DLC that tells the story of the Shakarn's invasion of the former Star Union's territory is called Invasions, plural. [[spoiler:The other invaders are the Voidbringers, who begin by devouring the Shakarn's home worlds.]]
180	* SuperSpit: Kir'ko melee units can spit poison as a ranged attack. A number of neutral alien creatures also use spitting attacks, including the Quartzite Liquid Flame which spits ''molten lava'' at its unfortunate targets.
181	* SureLetsGoWithThat: In the Shakarn campaign. When the Shakarn, [[OutsideContextProblem alien]] LizardFolk, 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.
182	* StarfishAliens: The Psi-Fish NPC faction consists of these. They are extradimensional beings torn from their home by the cataclysm and struggling to survive in a world of vastly different natural laws. As the name implies they are all psionic and resemble translucent, floating marine life.
183	* TakeCover: The introduction of a cover mechanic has been one aspect of the shift to firearms-centered combat.
184	* TakeThat: The flavor text for the Shakarn technology "Propaganda Propagation" mentions a sleeper agent named "Nolt Drampud". [[spoiler: It's an anagram for "Donald Trump"]]
185	* TankGoodness: The Vanguard make use of the highly-damaging Laser Tank, while the Dvar use the tough and cover-destroying Excavator Tank, the Syndicate use the teleporting, psychically-powered [[HoverTank Wraith]], while the Shakarn have the [[GaleForceSound Refractor]] which acts as their artillery and also hovers. Commanders with Promethean tech can also deploy the Aegis Tank to shield their troops and stagger or concuss enemies.
186	* TechnicolorMagic: The most outwardly supernatural elements in the game are [[PsychicPowers Psionic]] and [[EntropyAndChaosMagic Entropy]], which are respectively color-coded as purple and dark blue.
187	* TechTree: At least seven for every player. First, they are divided into "Military" and "Social" tabs, each of which is researched simultaneously and independent of the other. Military includes Faction techs for any faction you have at least one colony of, two Weapons tech trees based on your starting faction, and your Secret tech tree. Social includes Doctrine, Colony, and Operations tech trees.
188	* TractorBeam: The Dvar Earthcrusher vehicle, which uses a beam to pull the enemies right into its ore processing machinery.
189	* TrickArrow: The Amazon Huntress can fire arrows that act as flash bangs, temporarily blinding units and removing one action point from them if they are not stagger-resistant.
190	* TripodTerror: The Amazon Arborian Queen and Xenoplague Plague Lord are towering, three-legged monstrosities.
191	* TurnedAgainstTheirMasters: The Kir'ko used to be completely enslaved by the human Star Union, but eventually rebelled. Meanwhile, the clone super-soldiers who eventually became the Assembly overthrew their handlers after the Star Union's collapse.
192	* UnreliableNarrator: Empress Carminia provides the campaign's opening narration about the terrible cataclysm and the need to avoid repeating its mistakes. [[spoiler: She ''caused'' the cataclysm herself in a bid to become a psionic goddess and she's willing to blow up entire inhabited planets to cover her tracks...]]
193	* UnusableEnemyEquipment:
194	** While you can easily get the units of NPC factions under your banner by getting in their good graces, there's a lot more specialized units that are only put under your control by quest events, if you're very lucky. Penguins, Reapers, Quartzites and Hopperhounds are but a few of the NeutralsCrittersAndCreeps running around you have to deal with that you can't normally manufacture or buy with influence.
195	** There are also the unique upgrades used by the Quartzite neutral creature type as well as other wildlife units, which can only be obtained very rarely by using the Amazons' Animal Control operation or a Prime Rank Heritor Drained's Mind Possession successfully on a unit that has them.
196	** Downplayed by certain operations and unit abilities that kill an enemy unit and replace it with a different one of your own, or control an enemy unit but replace it with another after combat. Units acquired or created this way retain any compatible mods (regardless of secret tech) from the victim and unlocks those mods for other units like them, and only them.
197	** Galactic Empire mode, added with the free patch that came with the launch of ''Star Kings'', subverts the trope to an extent by allowing you to gradually unlock units, mods and doctrines that would otherwise be entirely disallowed to your current race and class, allowing you to tweak your playstyle. Certain relics also allow you to acquire the neutral units listed above.
198	* WaveMotionGun:
199	** The Syndicate's T4 unit, the Zenith, is a hovering warship with one of these mounted in its bow. The Cataclysm Cannon needs to charge up for two turns before being ready to use, but when it fires, the results are...well, ''cataclysmic''.
200	** The Shakarn's T4 unit, the Sonokarn, is a CoolStarship that also makes use of this. Its Omni-Beam is a single action ability that normally fires in a 3-hex line, but it can spend a full action to charge it up so that it doubles its length and triples its width, becoming a true HerdHittingAttack. When paired with a Tactician or a Hero armed with the Tactician's fins, the Sonokarn can have its action points restored so that it can charge and fire the beam in the same turn, or use its regular attack then charge the beam up so that its ready for the next.
201	* WarpWhistle: On top of pre-existing warp pads that can be found on the map, the Orbital Relay tech is primarily this: establishing them in your various colonies gives you a fast-travel network that can quickly move units from one side of the map to the other.
202	* WhenTreesAttack: The Amazon Arborian units, which come in two types. The first one, the Arborian Sentinel, is a support unit armed with laser cannons and Thorn Roots capable of entangling enemies from a distance, it is also capable of granting bonus shields to friendly units. The second, the Arborian Queen, is the Amazon T4 unit that uses bio cannons and a more powerful Root Quake ability with a wider area of effect, it can also restore dead animal and plant units back to life, as well as grow whole forests on the strategic map.
203	* WomenAreWiser: The Amazons certainly ''believe'' so. It's mostly CulturalPosturing.
204	* YouRequireMoreVespeneGas: "Cosmite" is the Vespene of the game, a fairly rare resource that you can find in select areas, in one-use clusters or through certain colony upgrades. It's needed for modding units, building Colonizers, or constructing very high-tier units.
205	** Influence points also count, though they're arguably even rarer: while they're not quite as versatile as Cosmite, and can only be reliably gained for most races (except the Syndicate) through quests, they are needed to buy stuff from city-states, move independent armies non-violently and sway the opinion of other players toward you.

Context VideoGame / AgeOfWondersPlanetfall