Also planetfall has actual accuracy stats, and it's possible to miss attacks instead of it just reducing damage.

For the most part planetfall has all the mechanics and concepts AoW3 had, but changes a few areas to fit the different theme, like the regions, as mentioned.

the items in AoW3 were more impactful and gave more perks and skills per item to the hero while you also could equip a higher amount of items (and unique mounts).They're more similar to each other than they are to any other franchise, even factoring the differences. bigger differences come from modules but they aren't different for your hero than the units and also those items feel less impactful. i miss this 'from zero to hero', in planetfall i don't see / feel a huge progress in my heroes. In AoW3 i could make a hero have several army buffing auras and give him support abilities, making himself less of a threat but a huge buffer for the team or i could create a amped up monster being able lategame to kill several units on his own. of course we should gate higher tier skills by level and higher point cost but i want to have the option of having a vehicle leader, aura leader, infantrist / melee warrior (a supersoldier).

Why not give the heroes some more of the unique skills and traits of their units? like give assembly heroes the create construct / reassemble or the hyperarmor trait. in planetfall my hero feels besides upped HP pool less viable and less interesting than many units. giving you the option of creating a super-soldier with combined synergies of your race / faction. in AoW3 your heroes had a selection of special skills and auras for the army as well as a selection of traits and skills from their class / faction. making me care much less about my hero than my units which have more unique skills. The devs improved planetfall over AoW3 in many aspects but the hero part of the game feels a bit more shallow to me and the variants i can chose and specialize my hero in seems dramatically less in this instance. If you compare the level up options and skill options of AoW3 and AoW:PF you will notice that planetfall only a fraction of the options Age of Wonders 3 offered (even AoW3 vanilla).

Age of wonders planetfall wiki heroes