Age of Wonders: Planetfall cover art

Age of Wonders: Planetfall

Combining faction mods and operations under fog-of-war tactical and strategic layers.

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Here's the argument for where this game sits - disagree freely.
Match your experience?
EXECUTION2 /10READS2 /10VARIANCE5 /10OPTIMIZATION9 /10

the cheat-test profile

The four axes - the argument

Each axis is rated on its own - how far one cheat would trivialize the game here. They don't trade off; low on all four means the game is an experience, not a contest.

  1. Execution

    cheat: Aimbot - perfect inputs

    2/10

    Turn-based tactical and strategic layers; no twitch element

  2. Reads

    cheat: Out-predict an adaptive opponent

    2/10

    AI opponents follow personality scripts without adaptive modelling

  3. Variance

    cheat: See what's hidden / map the RNG

    5/10

    Random sector secrets and hidden ruins inject manageable unknowns

  4. Optimization

    cheat: A perfect solver / coach

    9/10

    Faction modding, tech paths, and op synergies form deep optimization space

How to read this

Each axis is named by the cheat that would break the game along it. Execution is the hands. Reads is out-thinking an adaptive opponent. Variance is hidden information & RNG. Optimization is the solvable systems layer. A game's region is the top one or two axes.

These four aren't one rating split four ways - they're independent 0-10 questions. A 9 on one axis takes nothing from the others, and a game low on all four isn't missing data: it's telling you there's no skill here to cheat.

The basis is how the majority actually plays this game - not a niche mode or a personal run. For a game with very different modes (a story campaign versus ranked multiplayer), that's the version most people mean.

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Game details

Released
2019
Developer
Triumph Studios
Platforms
PS4, PC, Mac, XONE
Modes
Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative
IGDB critics
84/100
IGDB users
68/100
SimulatorStrategyTurn-based strategy (TBS)TacticalScience fiction4X (explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate)