The Age of Wonders series helped quite a bit in making the 4X genre popular, offering tons of features that were easy to understand, but much harder to master.
But over time series’ setting was starting to become a little stale. And so it took to the stars with Planetfall, reenergizing the franchise considerably.
And much like previous entries in the series, Planetfall has seen the release of a great selection of mods. These not only improve the game’s basic features, but also add tons of new content for hardcore fans.
So get your spaceship ready, cause we’re taking off in 3…2…1… Go!
If the number of units found in Planetfall doesn’t feel like enough for you, then the Xenoplague Racial Expansion is the mod you should download right now.
This mod creates new racial units for each race in the game using the Xenoplague Secret Tech. So prepare to be flooded with brand new units no matter which race you’re playing, but only if you work for it.
There’s nothing like new perks to perk you up… sorry, I had to do it.
New Perks is a simple mod that adds several new perks to the game, most of which are are extremely useful for broad play. The only downside is that you need to have all DLC released for the game for the mod to work.
So you’d better start scouring the net for those Season Pass deals if you want to expand your range of in-game possibilities.
Leveling characters and units in any game is always a blast, no doubt about it.
Only that it becomes less satisfying when you see your units haven’t improved all that much.
Enter this mod: The Level Ups are Stronger, which brings the satisfaction back into leveling in Planetfall by simply making the stats increase higher, faster.
So now you can dish out more damage, gain more health, and get more armor.
Tis mod is also compatible with other major mods, so no risk of breaking the game here. Or rather, not breaking it too much!
Go big with the BiggerWorlds mod, or go home. There’s no room for mediocrity in this game.
BiggerWorlds not only introduces a new Massive map in Scenario Settings, but it also lowers the minimum number of players limit to 2. This means it can take ages to encounter your opponent if you choose to lower the limit all the way.
I’m not sure it’s for the best, but you’re free to try anyway: it’s not you who’s risking your life on these unknown planets.
A great user interface is what truly makes a strategy game fun.
And Planetfall definitely delivers on this front… but not completely.
Banners Update is a light interface update that makes Banners more readable by adding a colored border around Strategic Stacks, sharper Healthbars, improved Hero and Leader visibility, and more.
No more straining your eyes to understand what the fridge is going on.
Vanilla Planetfall doesn’t make much of a distinction between a regular unit and a veteran that has survived tens of battles.
The time has come to give them what they’ve conquered on the battlefield.
Better Veterans makes the distinction between regular units and veterans much more distinct, with new bonuses on each level up that will make a force to be reckoned with.
To keep some sort of balance, XP acquisition has been reduced. So to become a veteran, any unit will have to survive for quite some time. That’s a very scary yet realistic tweak.
The ColonialGuard mod is the perfect addition to download if you’ve played Planetfall for thousands of hours and have mastered all of its factions.
It adds a brand new race that’s perfect for a more defensive playstyle, with units and technology that are geared toward it.
All the other races are left untouched, which is cool for sure. But things can become a little unbalanced without the right tweaks (which we can see here).
I’ve gotta commend the efforts of a single modder: not everyone can come up with such well thought out content.
The Artic World Scenario introduces a new Arctic planet type filled with forests, mountains, and some volcanoes. It almost feels like Iceland, doesn’t it?
Before all the forests got chopped off centuries ago, that is.
My heroes are more skilled than yours, thanks to the More Hero Skills mod.
This mod adds so many skills that it’s really worth trying it to see. Some of the cooler ones are the resurrection skill update and “Mind Control”, which does exactly as you’d think.
But take a look at the mod page for a full list.
And rest assured, they are all quite useful, depending on the situation. And they’ll make sure you’ll start having fun with the game once again, even if you’ve mastered everything there is to master.
More Sectors is the perfect mod to satiate that colonist thirst you’ve had since you purchased the game.
This mod is a very simple mod that increases max sector per colony count to eight, but leaves the growth rate the same. So you still need 4 more colonists to annex another sector to your galactic empire.
Max colonist count has also been increased to 100, so you do not have to worry about being able to use this mod to its full potential.
If a weapon unleashes a huge explosion, it has to be the most powerful around, right?
Well, not quite… but that’s hardly important, as the More Boom mod makes combat way more satisfying by improving the special effects of all weapons.
This means an increase the gore effects, death animations, and tons of other combat visual effects. The changes are so big that it almost feels like the game has received a next-gen upgrade!
Some of the other mods on this list do increase the number of available units. But they’re not on the same level as the Expanded Arsenal mod.
Expanded Arsenal adds a lot of units to all races in the game, all with new abilities and new damage channels that allow you to employ more diverse strategies than in vanilla.
New units are spread among different tiers, too. So it will take a while for you to check out all the amazing additions you get here.
The Planet Pack mod is truly an essential mod that all Planetfall players should download.
I mean, I can’t think of anyone that would say no to two brand new planets!
The new planets, called Archipelago World and Lava World, come with some unique mechanics too. For example, how about lava that cannot be traversed normally? It’ll force you to rethink your whole strategic approach.
Couple this with a few other mods and you’ll keep yourself busy for days.
He can crush you and your armies with only his good looks!
The Extended Commander Customization mod gives a lot of new options to customize your commander, ranging from extra colors, new eyes and backgrounds, new capes, and improved faces.
A small change? Sure. But truly one that’s noticeable (and different) in every playthrough.
