We are monitoring the use of smurfs and player behaviour. That may result in some changes, some warnings, some season bans and some permanent bans (a number of which have already been applied).
Be respectful in chat (or don’t say anything at all if you can’t self moderate)
No smurfs (play on your primary account)
No impersonating other players
Avoid instant surrenders without communication and agreement from the other player
Avoid disconnects
High rates of instant surrenders or disconnects are NOT considered participation and will disqualify you from participation prizes.
The time of the Unicorn is over, and now, the time of Fusion begins. It represents the beginning of great change.
This arc kicks off with the introduction of the Stinger, the little bot that could. Bringing anti-air back to the Bot Factory with its twin mounted homing missile pods, it can accompany your Dox raids to bring down those pesky Icarus and Bumblebees.
A major improvement to the lobby UI has been introduced, with the host being able to drag, drop and swap players. Easily switch teams around to achieve Ultimate Balance™. There is also no longer a default system in new lobbies, saving your CPU from generating something you were probably not going to use. Just doing our bit for the planet. Lastly, asteroids can now be included in randomly generated systems.
The hand-crafted map pool has expanded, with all previous 1v1 ranked maps available. A revised default system list includes some new FFA / team maps for you to play but don’t panic! PAX has survived the cull 🙂
You may have noticed the servers are running smoother than ever, with the recent upgrades to the fastest m5zn instances in all regions. Our dedicated servers for big FFA and team games have also been upgraded.
The Fusion Commander is available to all players during the Steam Summer Sale and Humble Greatest Hits Sale, after which it can be purchased through the Armory.
We are monitoring the use of smurfs and player behaviour. That may result in some changes, some warnings, some season bans and some permanent bans (a number of which have already been applied).
Be respectful in chat (or don’t say anything at all if you can’t self moderate)
No smurfs (play on your primary account)
No impersonating other players
Avoid instant surrenders without communication and agreement from the other player
Avoid disconnects
High rates of instant surrenders or disconnects are NOT considered participation and will disqualify you from participation prizes.
Season Bounty for Top FAF or BAR Players in Season 11 and 12
US$150 for end of season top Star league #1, #2, #3, #4 or #5 ranking.
We are monitoring the use of smurfs and player behaviour. That may result in some changes, some warnings, some season bans and some permanent bans (a number of which have already been applied).
Be respectful in chat (or don’t say anything at all if you can’t self moderate)
No smurfs (play on your primary account)
No impersonating other players
Avoid instant surrenders without communication and agreement from the other player
Avoid disconnects
High rates of instant surrenders or disconnects are NOT considered participation and will disqualify you from participation prizes.
Created by the Progenitors in the dying days of the Pro-Com war, the Legion represented humanity’s last ditch effort to defeat the base game Machine Liberation Army (MLA) faction. It failed. When the superweapon was unleashed which disabled the MLA the Legion were not spared. Millennia later they have awoken and seek to win the unwinnable war for which they were created, in memory of their creators.
A labour of love put together over the course of many years, the Legion Expansion introduces over a hundred new units to form an entirely new faction equal in size and scope of the base game. You can use it in multiplayer, or play against the AI in skirmish.
Legion units lack the mobility and numbers of the base game MLA faction, instead their focus is on raw power. While the enemy are many, the Legion units armour is strong and their guns powerful. They do not focus on early raiding or rapid expansion, rather they prepare themselves to strike a single mighty blow that both begins and ends the battle.
Installation
Legion Expansion is installed from the Community Mods recommended tab in-game. AI support is included within the mod for skirmish play, but for enhanced AI try installing the Queller AI mod.
Hosting and Joining Games
To host Legion games ensure the Legion Expansion mod is enabled in Community Mods.
Each time you host a multiplayer Legion Expansion game, PA will upload the server mod to the server so please be patient. The speed at which this occurs depends on your upload bandwidth.
Legion games are shown in the games browser with a red Legion icon.
Community Mods will automatically install Legion Expansion if needed when players join a Legion game.
You can play as Legion by selecting a red Legion Commander in the new game lobby.
Legion Expansion Overview
Playing against the base game Machine Liberation Army (MLA) faction, you’ll often find yourself facing down never-ending swarms of units. Even with some of the most powerful units at your disposal, it can be easy to be overrun by the sheer number of enemy forces.
Each Legion unit has strengths and weaknesses. Experiment with new and different unit combinations to find powerful synergies where your units support each other and become a much deadlier force as a whole. Use every tool and ounce of cleverness at your disposal. Whether it’s scouting with hidden Investigators, jumping over obstacles with Purger boombots, forming strong points with Rampart shield generators, or surgically inserting your forces with flying Comet teleporters to do crippling damage.
A typical game against the base game MLA faction will flow something like this:
Early game: Defend against the base game MLA faction mobility advantage
Mid-game: Push out with advantage of strong units – defender attacker roles flipped
Late game: Advantages and disadvantages normalize as both factions develop to full capacity
Early Game
All that heavy armour and weapons means you’re not as mobile as the base game MLA faction, which means they will have an expansion advantage. Defend your expansions and stabilize your economy. Make use of the very cheap Jackal light laser turret to ward off small numbers of raiding units.
At the same time, you can still surprise the base game MLA faction players with a taste of their own medicine. The Marauder gunship is superb for picking off unguarded fabricators, the Stoke can clean up undefended metal extractors, and at sea the Catfish is great for scouting and exerting pressure.
During this phase you should focus on building up your troop numbers.
Mid-Game
While still outnumbered, your units will be very strong when grouped together to concentrate their firepower against the enemy. With a focus on quality over quantity, you can start to push out and outright threaten the base game MLA faction forces with a quick defeat if they are unable to organize sufficient defense.
Late Game
Your forces should be supplemented with T2 troops now. Whether you pick T2 bots or vehicles will depend on the playstyle you enjoy – both have their strengths and weaknesses. If you have air dominance, consider roasting large groups of enemies with the Salamander heavy bomber.
Changes since recording – Wraith renamed to Spectre, Excalibur renamed to Paladin
The Xziphid war was won by the Commanders, intelligent machines created to carry out the bidding of the Progenitors. In the aftermath a number of them broke away, forming the MLA. They took the fight to their former masters and started the Pro-Com war.
Though powerful, the Progenitors could not defeat their own creations. During the peak of the war a new generation of Commander was created, programmed to be be utterly loyal and devoted to their masters and without mercy for the foe. The Legion was born. They had access to the greatest of the Progenitor’s creations, and so for a time the tide seemed to have turned.
But war is won by logistics, and the MLA had spread too far, harvested too much. The Legion fought well but despite many glorious victories in battle they were losing. It was at this point that the Progenitors unleashed their weapon of last resort: a superweapon designed to take out all of their machine creations. The Pro-Com war was over and for millennia the galaxy was quiet.
Then something disturbed the peace and the Legion awoke to find their creators gone, but the hated foe still present. So the Legion marches once more to war, in memory of the creators they still love dearly.
Credits
This project is not the work of one, but of a legion.
We are monitoring the use of smurfs and player behaviour. That may result in some changes, some warnings, some season bans and some permanent bans (a number of which have already been applied).
Be respectful in chat (or don’t say anything at all if you can’t self moderate)
No smurfs (play on your primary account)
No impersonating other players
Avoid instant surrenders without communication and agreement from the other player
Avoid disconnects
High rates of instant surrenders or disconnects are NOT considered participation and will disqualify you from participation prizes.
Please make sure your graphics drivers are up to date by downloading your drivers directly from the graphics card manufacturer websites. Drivers from Windows laptop manufacturer websites are often outdated.
If your gaming laptop or desktop has multiple graphics cards, please make sure you have updated drivers for both GPUs and that you have configured both PA and CoherentUI_Host to run on your high performance dedicated GPU:
MSI Afterburner / Rivatuner ASUS / ROG Sonic Radar
3D API / OpenGL Interceptors
May cause black screens and crashes.
Lucid Virtu MVP
Sound Enhancers
May cause no sound, stutter, static, etc.
Nahimic Audio Driver
Also bundled in: ASUS / ROG Sonic Studio MSI Audio Drivers Alienware Command Center
May cause no sound, stutter, static, etc and may also freeze when launching on a second display with NVIDIA drivers.
Add PA.exe to: C:\ProgramData\A-Volute\A-Volute.Nahimic\Modules\Scheduled\Configurator\BlackApps.dat
Windows Crash Dumps
PA generated crash reports with logs (and dxdiag on windows) are usually automatically uploaded to our crash reporting system.
When reporting crashes it also helps if you include the crash ID from your logs (same as the filename of the generated minidump):
xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx.dmp 
The default location for crash dumps generated by PA is now the logs directory in your Planetary Annihilation data directory.
The environment variable MINIDUMP_DIRECTORY can be used to change the location where PA crash minidump files are saved and will also generate more detailed (and larger) minidump files similar to the new --enable-detailed-minidump command line option.
Windows Error Reporting (WER)
The default location for mini crash dumps created by Windows Error Reporting (WER) is:
Control Panel > System > Advanced system settings > Environment Variables (or search for environment variables if using Windows 10).
HDR10
Experimental hardware HDR10 support can be enabled on latest Windows 10 for modern NVIDIA 10 series or newer GPUs connected via DisplayPort 1.4+ or HDMI 2.0+ with full output of dynamic range and colour depth in the NVIDIA Control Panel using:
Planetary Annihilation is a cross platform client / server networked OpenGL application.
Any software that interferes with network connections or OpenGL can cause issues.
When playing you are connecting to a local server or hosted server over the internet.
A cabled Ethernet connection to your router will perform better than Wi-Fi for most games. After your router your ISP, their backhaul and their transit to PAnet AWS servers will determine the quality of your network connection.
Like most games you need free memory to run PA especially with a local server. A minimum spec Windows system with 8GB RAM and a dedicated GPU should normally have 6GB RAM free before starting PA.
System level crashes or mouse / keyboard freezes during live games are almost always a hardware / driver issue with your system. PA can really push your hardware to the max.
To change your display name in-game, click on the social icon in the lower right-hand corner. A menu should appear with your name and a dropdown box to change your online status. Below that says, “Change Display Name.”
A box will appear where you can type in your New Display Name. If the name you’ve entered has already been taken, a message will appear to notify you.
Adding PA Friends
To add a PA friend send them a friend request using right click on their name in any of the following:
community chat
recent
search results
Friends need to be logged in and online to accept friend invites.
PA Accounts
Historical backers and anyone who wants to play outside of steam can create an optional PAnet account with a username and password that can be linked with a steam account for TITANS ownership.
Lost TITANS Ownership After Linking Steam with PA Account
The safe way to check stats is via control-p in-game to toggle between:
Client FPS
GPU memory usage
When connected to a local or public server:
Server (always max 1 FPS)
Sim (max 10 FPS once game has started)
Close Other Applications / Browsers
PA is a CPU heavy game especially when running a local server.
Close unnecessary applications and browser tabs especially on older systems.
Client Stalls or Unit Jumps
This is usually a network issue such as packet loss or network lag in transit to PAnet AWS servers (or OVH US for the dedicated servers).
Some network issues may be temporary due to congestion or bad ISP transit / peering routes.
Software such as firewalls or network optimisers can also disrupt network connections. eg ASUS / Rog GameFirst on Windows.
Network Testing
MTR or WinMTR is the preferred tool for testing network connectivity. All hops should show 0 (no packet loss) or 100 (blocked).
Persistent packet loss on many hops is most likely a local issue with PC software / hardware, Ethernet cables, router software / hardware or your ISP last mile connection to network termination / demarcation (or ONT for fibre connections).
Incorrect MTU and TCP MSS clamping settings may result in fragmentation or packet loss. For PPEoE, DSL or cable connections test MTU sizes of 1492 or 1452.
Clean Testing
You can start a clean copy of PA without deleting your existing Planetary Annihilation Data Directory by using the --localstorageurl command line parameter. eg --localstorageurl=localstore-testing
Planetary Annihilation Data Directory
The data directory or folder is separate from your install directory and contains:
logs
local configuration localstore
file system mods client_mods and server_mods
downloads for community mods download
The data directory is shared by all installations of Planetary Annihilation:
steam
launcher
stable or PTE streams
Updating or reinstalling PA does not impact the data directory.
By default all installations use the same local configuration. You can override this using the --localstorageurl command line parameter.
--localstorageurl=localstore-testing
Windows Planetary Annihilation Data Directory
The default location is in your local app data directory:
Right click on Planetary Annihilation: TITANS or Planetary Annihilation in your list of games
Select Properties
Click the LOCAL FILES tab
Click BROWSE LOCAL FILES
Steam Command Line Parameters
Open your Steam library
Right click Planetary Annihilation: TITANS then select Properties
Click Set Launch Options…
PA Launcher Command Line Parameters
Open the PA launcher and sign in
Click on your username then select Build Options… from the list
Additional command-line options
Crash Dumps
PA generated crash reports with logs (and dxdiag on windows) are usually automatically uploaded to our crash reporting system.
When reporting crashes it also helps if you include the crash ID from your logs (same as the filename of the generated minidump):
xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx.dmp 
The default location for crash dumps generated by PA is now the logs directory in your Planetary Annihilation data directory.
The environment variable MINIDUMP_DIRECTORY can be used to change the location where PA crash minidump files are saved and will also generate more detailed (and larger) minidump files similar to the new --enable-detailed-minidump command line option.
Windows Error Reporting (WER) and macOS may also generate different crash reports:
When there is a repeatable crash after starting a game, clicking on preview PIPs, etc it’s often caused by local issues like:
out of date drivers
out of date BIOS
faulty / failing hardware
faulty or mismatched RAM
old or underrated power supply
PA can stress your hardware more than other games and we can normally spot local issues by:
uniqueness of crash
type of crash
location of crash
kernel events
Full Screen Desktop Resolution and 4K
Full screen uses a borderless window at your native desktop resolution to allow for quick alt-tabbing to desktop and other applications without disruption.
Subsampling
If you are playing on an older or lower spec GPU then try subsampling:
Experimental hardware HDR10 support can be enabled on latest Windows 10 for modern NVIDIA 10 series or newer GPUs connected via DisplayPort 1.4+ or HDMI 2.0+ with full output of dynamic range and colour depth in the NVIDIA Control Panel using:
--hardware-hdr
Note: macOS HDR10 support is automatic.
Regions
APNorthEast: AWS ap-northeast-1 in Tokyo, Japan
APSouthEast: AWS ap-southeast-1 in Singapore
Australia: AWS ap-southeast-2 in Sydney, Australia
USWest: AWS us-west-2 in Oregon, USA
USCentral: AWS us-east-2 in Ohio, USA
USEast: AWS us-east-1 in Virginia, USA
EUWest: AWS eu-west-1 in Ireland
1v1 ranked automatically selects a region between players.
Region at Capacity
New instances constantly spin up as needed and may take up to 5 minutes to appear online.
Error Codes
Basil
Coherent UI initialization failed. Verify your game files.
Cilantro
Coherent UI view creation failed. Verify your game files.
Parsley
Coherent UI GPU process crashed. Update your graphics drivers.
Rosemary
Coherent UI component corrupted or missing. Verify your game files.
Sage (Steam)
Restart Steam, check for steam client updates and verify your game files.
THE GALAXY WON'T CONQUER ITSELFGet it now on Steam!
