I just checked the newest Dev diary.. Did anyone else notice that the leader they showcased seemed to be leading an Empire that puts an awful lot of effort in Genetics?
This one gives us a bit closer look at science ships and how you survey anomalies. When surveying, you have a chance of success based on the anomaly's difficulty and your scientist's level. Some options are only available if your scientist possesses the right personality traits. Failures can do nothing (except you lose the potential science gain), but they can also trigger disasters. Anomaly event chains are written in such a way that they might go a variety of ways, so even if you've played the game several times you might be surprised at how one winds up panning out.
Not a lot we didn't already know, but it's nice to have some screenshots and a few more details. I am both excited about the joy of exploration & discovery this offers and also very worried about the potential for game balance breakdowns. Civilization's goodie huts are notorious for being disruptive, and I expect more or less the same here (as well as yet another reason to have to save-scum). Then again, these are basically Event stand-ins, and that's one area Paradox has a lot of experience with.
Fleur de Alys on
Triptycho: A card-and-dice tabletop indie RPG currently in development and playtesting
This one gives us a bit closer look at science ships and how you survey anomalies. When surveying, you have a chance of success based on the anomaly's difficulty and your scientist's level. Some options are only available if your scientist possesses the right personality traits. Failures can do nothing (except you lose the potential science gain), but they can also trigger disasters. Anomaly event chains are written in such a way that they might go a variety of ways, so even if you've played the game several times you might be surprised at how one winds up panning out.
Not a lot we didn't already know, but it's nice to have some screenshots and a few more details. I am both excited about the joy of exploration & discovery this offers and also very worried about the potential for game balance breakdowns. Civilization's goodie huts are notorious for being disruptive, and I expect more or less the same here (as well as yet another reason to have to save-scum). Then again, these are basically Event stand-ins, and that's one area Paradox has a lot of experience with.
If they keep with the Clausewitz engine formula, balance issues shouldn't be as big an issue. Those games are very comfortable allowing for playing overpowered nations like France to be fun experiences without ruining the challenge. While it is possible to meta-game EUIV or Crusader Kings 2 to take over the world, the game design really discourages it.
Do not be alarmed. I have been summoned to your pitiful quaint planet to tell you a little bit about Special Projects and the Situation Log.
As you play the game and venture out into the galaxy, you will eventually come upon Special Projects. These projects are sometimes spawned by the Anomalies that were discussed in last week’s Dev Diary, but they can also be triggered by other events. They typically represent a specific action that can be performed by the player, and in that respect they function a bit like the decisions you might find in some of our other games.
Most projects are centered around a location (often a planet, but it could also be an object in space), and many require the presence of a Science Ship and a skilled Scientist before they can be started. Others may require the presence of a warship, or a troop transport, or something else entirely. It depends on the project...
...While the cost of some projects is only a time investment, others will require research efforts within a particular field, such as physics, to complete. Technology research progress is diverted to the project at the expense of your current technology research in that field, temporarily halting all progress. In other words, you may want to hold off on that physics project for a while if you are just about to finish researching a new shield system!
A few examples of Special Projects could be boarding and investigating a derelict space hulk, performing an archeological dig on the homeworld of a dead civilization… or perhaps fishing something out of the atmosphere of a gas giant. Projects can also appear on your colony worlds, and they may be time sensitive.
So what do you get for completing a Special Project? Well, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, that depends on the project. You might get an advanced alien warship, or a new technology, or any number of other bonuses and advantages. Sometimes the reward might simply be staving off an imminent disaster on one of your colonies.
To help players keep track these projects, we have added something called the Situation Log to the game. This screen works like a quest log in many ways, and you will find all currently available Special Projects here. You can also follow your progress in certain event chains, with various Points of Interest listed that can be visually tracked on the map. A Point of Interest could be a strange signal emanating from a distant star system, which will remain in your log until you send someone to investigate...
That’s it for now. Next week, renowned interstellar gangster Daniel “grekulf” Moregård will take time out of his busy schedule to tell you more about how planets work in Stellaris - including planet modifiers, surface tiles, buildings and resource collection!
Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if Labor had not first existed. Labor is superior to capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. - Lincoln
Space 4X. Ethos. Inter-system travel that's not strait-jacketed to lanes. Plot-based Planetary Dev. Paradox. Abstracted space combat. It's pushing my buttons so far.
Reboot on
+3
KadokenGiving Ends to my Friends and it Feels StupendousRegistered Userregular
Space 4X. Ethos. Inter-system travel that's not strait-jacketed to lanes. Plot-based Planetary Dev. Paradox. Abstracted space combat. It's pushing my buttons so far.
I wasn't interested in this game until I finally broke into Paradox with EUIV. Now it sounds like one of the best things.
Is there ship customization? I hope no. I didn't like ship customization in GalCiv3, too much micromanagement.
We have spoken earlier about how the galaxy is generated, and today I aim to expand on that somewhat by telling you about the planets and how they differ from each other.
Planet Tiles
Each habitable planet has a number of tiles on its surface, representing the planet’s size. Some tiles might be blocked by natural barriers, such as mountains, and can be cleared to open up new space. When the galaxy is generated, each tile generates a random number and checks if a deposit will be spawned there. A tile can be worked by having a Pop placed in it.
Buildings can also be constructed in tiles, and they often have adjacency bonuses for the resource they are producing. Therefore it will be advantageous to construct your power plants in proximity to each other, to achieve optimal efficiency.
Planet Modifiers
Celestial objects come in many different sizes and shapes, and planet modifiers are a part of what can set two planets apart. In the example above, Omaggus III has particularly large lifeforms on it, which could prove fruitful to study.
Deposits
Resources are generated as deposits and they spawn on planets depending on the type of planet, and which modifiers can be found on the planet. Certain resources are also more likely to be found in systems that lie in specific parts in the galaxy, like inside a nebula. All resources cannot appear on all planets, and some planets have a higher chance of hosting certain resources. Asteroids are very likely to have minerals on them, for example.
Orbital Resources
Planets that cannot be colonized do not use surface tiles, but they can still generate deposits. Each planet has an orbital resource slot that can be worked if a Mining Station or Research Station is built in orbit around that planet. Sometimes you encounter planets that you could potentially colonize, but that is not habitable enough for you to want to colonize it. In those cases you may also want to construct an orbital station.
The Basic Resources
Food is a requirement for Pops to grow. If there is plenty of Food, Pops will grow faster. If there is a lack of Food, Pops will be unhappy.
Minerals are used to produce most things in the game. If Minerals represent matter, Energy Credits represent work.
Energy Credits represent all liquid assets and energy produced by our Empire. Actions, such as clearing tiles, cost Energy Credits to perform. This resource is mainly used for upkeep, and although it can be hoarded, that might not be the best way of handling it.
Physics Research, Society Research and Engineering Research are used to advance technologies in different fields of science.
Check the link for three very nice screenshots. Planet tiles reminds me a bit of X-com, though these are pretty standard mechanics at this point.
If you view the screens, it's notable that the yellow lights on the planet's dark side represents the cities built there, and there's more of them as your population grows on the planet. That is some serious attention to detail going way beyond anything we've seen from Paradox before in terms of visuals. This game is getting some care and budget on top of the usual mechanical wonder.
Triptycho: A card-and-dice tabletop indie RPG currently in development and playtesting
Space 4X. Ethos. Inter-system travel that's not strait-jacketed to lanes. Plot-based Planetary Dev. Paradox. Abstracted space combat. It's pushing my buttons so far.
I wasn't interested in this game until I finally broke into Paradox with EUIV. Now it sounds like one of the best things.
Is there ship customization? I hope no. I didn't like ship customization in GalCiv3, too much micromanagement.
Well if it's anything like EU et al, we might see Paradox selling different themetic sets of ships as DLCs. I'm not entirely against ship customization being absent. Space 4X has evolved since MOO, and I feel some level of abstraction in ship design is preferable. Maybe customization of just capital-class ships (if there's even such a thing).
Good news everyone! We are back with another dev diary! This time we’ll look at the spaceport.
Spaceports are permanent off-world installations that, depending on size, may support thousands of crew and inhabitants, acting almost as a city in itself. As the main hub for anything moving planetside it becomes a natural focus for interstellar trade and production as well as a vital strategic point in any conflict. All types of ships are built and serviced in the spaceport, from smaller vessels like science ships to enormous battleships. As it is too large for a construction ship to build, the spaceport is instead constructed by an established colony. When finished, the spaceport orbits the planet offering basic off-world defenses and the ability to construct and repair ships. The spaceport starts out small and can be upgraded in steps, a total of five times, where each upgrade adds additional toughness, damage output, the ability to build larger ships and most importantly additional module slots.
Modules are attachments that can be added to spaceports, allowing further specialization or utility. Like many other things in Stellaris, some modules may only be available to empires of a specific ethos while others may be the result of a rare scientific breakthrough. Their effects can range from additional defenses (Reinforced Hull Structure for added toughness, Fighter Squadron to combat raiders), benefits to economy (Hydroponic Farms to grow additional food, Solar Panels to gather energy) and ship support (Crew Quarters for lowered upkeep of ships while docked) as well as refining and utilizing different rare resources. This all comes at a cost of course. A fully upgraded and equipped spaceport is a huge investment and the loss of one may alter the course of a war.
A rare resource is any resource showing an abnormal or useful behavior when processed. The uses can range from financial to destructive and some resources offer multiple effects depending on their use. A source of Engos Vapor could either be used to boost the thruster speed of all ships built within the spaceport or be pumped into the local atmosphere to soothe the local populace. Monopolizing a few of these resources offers great potential for a trade empire to flourish, or a warlike one to take whatever else they desire.
We’d like for spaceports to be something players customize and develop according to their playstyle, either by covering weak areas or further enhancing their strengths. The decision where, when and with what modules to build a spaceport will also be heavily influenced by the planet it orbits and how close it is to potential danger.
The rare resources should ideally provide a source of power and tension in the game. We’ve seen some players go for strategies based on controlling specific resources while some players prefer a more opportunistic approach, adapting to whatever they might happen upon. Others simply prefer to grab everything they can to better control where, and by who, they are used. Why risk the uncertainty of war when supplying both sides with the means of destruction ensures profit regardless of outcome?
(We’ll discuss further details on trade at some point in a future dev diary!)
Rare resources are expected, but the spaceports sound pretty rad. Offers a fun way to control solar systems with poor planets but good resources and/or strategic interest (such as a hyperlane choke point).
Triptycho: A card-and-dice tabletop indie RPG currently in development and playtesting
+4
Lord_AsmodeusgoeticSobriquet:Here is your magical cryptic riddle-tumour: I AM A TIME MACHINERegistered Userregular
It’s Monday and you all know what that means! Today I am going to talk about the technology system in Stellaris. If you have stayed up-to-date with the information flow, you probably know the basics already: there are three types of technology: Physics, Society and Engineering. Each one has its own research track, and each department is headed by a scientist character. You thus normally research three technologies in parallel.
Now, I want each new game of Stellaris to be a new and different journey. That is why the game does not have a “tech tree” in the classical sense. Instead, each time you start up a new research project, you are presented with three semi-random choices. This is a bit like drawing three cards from a deck of cards, picking one and returning the other two to the deck. However, to continue with this metaphor, the trick is in the shuffling... The deck is very much stacked, so to speak. Especially in the early game, some cards are extremely likely to end up in the top, so that all players get a fair start. What happens in the background is a complex weighting of various factors, like the ethics of the empire, the traits of the scientist character in charge of the department, the techs you already have, etc. I guess you could say the result is something like a fuzzy, hidden tech tree.
Certain technologies are considered rare or very rare, and these are clearly marked so that you know you should probably pick them lest you never see them again... There are also “tech cards” outside the deck (this card metaphor is really useful!), that can only be drawn in special circumstances, like when researching certain Anomalies, investigating debris, etc.
Of course, there are only so many normal technologies to research, so you will eventually have most of them. To keep things interesting even in a very long game though, there are also many procedurally generated “improvement technologies”. For example, techs that improve all types of laser weapons by a small degree. These technologies are a bit like the “Future Technologies” in Civilization except that you can start getting them long before you’ve actually run out of scripted technologies.
As with any game like this, techs get progressively more expensive, meaning you cannot neglect building research labs and stations lest you fall behind the other empires of the galaxy (however tempting it might be to use your precious real estate to produce more Minerals and Energy Credits…)
Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if Labor had not first existed. Labor is superior to capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. - Lincoln
Found a random video from Polygon with some information about the game. Mainly an interview conducted with a developer over the phone while some b-roll video plays randomly.
It’s Monday and you all know what that means! Today I am going to talk about the technology system in Stellaris. If you have stayed up-to-date with the information flow, you probably know the basics already: there are three types of technology: Physics, Society and Engineering. Each one has its own research track, and each department is headed by a scientist character. You thus normally research three technologies in parallel.
Now, I want each new game of Stellaris to be a new and different journey. That is why the game does not have a “tech tree” in the classical sense. Instead, each time you start up a new research project, you are presented with three semi-random choices. This is a bit like drawing three cards from a deck of cards, picking one and returning the other two to the deck. However, to continue with this metaphor, the trick is in the shuffling... The deck is very much stacked, so to speak. Especially in the early game, some cards are extremely likely to end up in the top, so that all players get a fair start. What happens in the background is a complex weighting of various factors, like the ethics of the empire, the traits of the scientist character in charge of the department, the techs you already have, etc. I guess you could say the result is something like a fuzzy, hidden tech tree.
Certain technologies are considered rare or very rare, and these are clearly marked so that you know you should probably pick them lest you never see them again... There are also “tech cards” outside the deck (this card metaphor is really useful!), that can only be drawn in special circumstances, like when researching certain Anomalies, investigating debris, etc.
Of course, there are only so many normal technologies to research, so you will eventually have most of them. To keep things interesting even in a very long game though, there are also many procedurally generated “improvement technologies”. For example, techs that improve all types of laser weapons by a small degree. These technologies are a bit like the “Future Technologies” in Civilization except that you can start getting them long before you’ve actually run out of scripted technologies.
As with any game like this, techs get progressively more expensive, meaning you cannot neglect building research labs and stations lest you fall behind the other empires of the galaxy (however tempting it might be to use your precious real estate to produce more Minerals and Energy Credits…)
Hey guys, we found the person who played Alpha Centauri with the default tech options :P
I know no 4x ever really pushes all my buttons 100% in practice but daaaaaaaamn does this look like it'll come as close as anything. I cannot wait for this.
KadokenGiving Ends to my Friends and it Feels StupendousRegistered Userregular
I want to know if I can make the Imperium in this game. A behemoth autocratic repressive spiritualist militant nation that owns the majority of the known galaxy that deals with several internal issues and barely does diplomacy with anyone that doesn't involve the end of a lasgun. I really want to know if there will be more paradox style events for dealing with your empire and if they would grow in number the bigger you grow so that dealing with internal problems and strife within your empire will be just as fun as dealing it external factors.
I'll probably buy it anyway and become a pansy galactic federation as that seems like what the game is geared more to, but I would like a CK style thing where you have to deal with your governor and generals as much as you have to deal with everyone else.
My most played game on Steam is CK2. My favorite game type is Sci-Fi 4X. I devoured MoO2, Sword of the Stars (before it was on Steam, so my hours don't show up there), and Gal Civ 2 (same).
I want to know if I can make the Imperium in this game. A behemoth autocratic repressive spiritualist militant nation that owns the majority of the known galaxy that deals with several internal issues and barely does diplomacy with anyone that doesn't involve the end of a lasgun. I really want to know if there will be more paradox style events for dealing with your empire and if they would grow in number the bigger you grow so that dealing with internal problems and strife within your empire will be just as fun as dealing it external factors.
I'll probably buy it anyway and become a pansy galactic federation as that seems like what the game is geared more to, but I would like a CK style thing where you have to deal with your governor and generals as much as you have to deal with everyone else.
From what we know so far it sounds like yes, you absolutely can make the Imperium.
When creating your empire you can choose to be a xenophobic, militaristic, and deeply spiritual society.
Also, you will have various Leaders (governors, generals, admirals, etc) that live and die.
There will also be factions that develop inside your empire that you'll have to deal with. Including pretenders to the throne if you're a monarchy. Not dealt with and it can mean civil war.
Oh, yeah also rest easy, one of the random events that can trigger is basically unleashing Chaos Gods onto the galaxy. :biggrin:
A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
Waiting for the announcement that I can make a race of extra-dimensional cosmic horrors that project themselves into the game dimension by way of innocuous looking creatures that can't be interpreted properly.
Everyone can be *happy campers*!
+2
Lord_AsmodeusgoeticSobriquet:Here is your magical cryptic riddle-tumour: I AM A TIME MACHINERegistered Userregular
That would be cool. They're going with I think four or five basic archetypes (like anthropoid, for instance) but there are exceptions (I believe they mentioned they have one potential race that's going to be like an intelligent parasite/virus that lives in its hosts, for example)
Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if Labor had not first existed. Labor is superior to capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. - Lincoln
I hadn't read much on this until just today, but oh man this could be bad for my pocketbook and free time. I've enjoyed the hell out of CK2 and EU4 both, and HoI4 looks promising as well. I'm actually kind of happy they haven't made a Victoria 3 yet (Victoria 2 seems to be from an older generation of Paradox game where it was much more difficult to get into), or I'd be tempted to do something stupid like try and guide a nation from the earliest start date all the way into the 20th century.
0
KadokenGiving Ends to my Friends and it Feels StupendousRegistered Userregular
I hadn't read much on this until just today, but oh man this could be bad for my pocketbook and free time. I've enjoyed the hell out of CK2 and EU4 both, and HoI4 looks promising as well. I'm actually kind of happy they haven't made a Victoria 3 yet (Victoria 2 seems to be from an older generation of Paradox game where it was much more difficult to get into), or I'd be tempted to do something stupid like try and guide a nation from the earliest start date all the way into the 20th century.
I wish fhey would revisit a cold war to modern setting idea. It would probably be more you and rival having proxy battles but if they treated the domestic, economic, and diplomatic situations more in depth (as I assume war would erupt into WW3, giant slogs like Vietnam or the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, or relative curbstomps like US involvment in the Gulf Wars) then Vicky I think it would be really interesting.
Iron Hearts just being a wargame with Paradox mechanics is kind of meh.
Well Hearts of Iron seems to have some fairly involved economy mechanics (do you retool your Panzer III factory to make StuG IIIs or completely overhaul it to make Panthers?) and internal politics to deal with (how do you convince the public of the USA to enter the war?). I'm not entirely sold on it myself, but I am intrigued. I will wait and see how it ends up, because it doesn't really sound like you have a huge amount of control over the actual fighting, leaving that up to the factories, training facilities and generals in charge to handle.
I do think an updated Victoria series game could be interesting, but that doesn't seem to be on their priority list and I really don't feel like wading through the obtuse UI and non-intuitive game systems of Victoria 2 (though I could be convinced to give Victoria 2 a try if it's reasonably cheap in the Winter Sale). A post-WW2 setting could be interesting, though the odds of an actual large scale conflict between nuclear powers would probably be pretty low and I'm not sure how much fun manipulating proxies would really be. They are pretty good at making grand strategy games, though, so they could probably make it work.
Anyway Stellaris is looking interesting, I'm quite curious about the rumored virus/parasite race. That is always one of those sci-fi terror scenarios, and getting to play it in a galactic form from the parasite side could be something new to try.
I hadn't read much on this until just today, but oh man this could be bad for my pocketbook and free time. I've enjoyed the hell out of CK2 and EU4 both, and HoI4 looks promising as well. I'm actually kind of happy they haven't made a Victoria 3 yet (Victoria 2 seems to be from an older generation of Paradox game where it was much more difficult to get into), or I'd be tempted to do something stupid like try and guide a nation from the earliest start date all the way into the 20th century.
I wish fhey would revisit a cold war to modern setting idea. It would probably be more you and rival having proxy battles but if they treated the domestic, economic, and diplomatic situations more in depth (as I assume war would erupt into WW3, giant slogs like Vietnam or the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, or relative curbstomps like US involvment in the Gulf Wars) then Vicky I think it would be really interesting.
Iron Hearts just being a wargame with Paradox mechanics is kind of meh.
They were going to, but the group that was making it didn't make much progress and it was axed.
Late posting of this one. Illness slowed me down for a bit. Anyway, this week's dev diary is on Policies & Edicts.
Hi all!
Time to fire up the rockets and head into space again, for another sojourn in the world of Stellaris. This week, I thought I’d talk about Policies and Edicts; directly corresponding to Laws and Decisions in our historical games. The general idea is to give you some additional control over the rules that define your Empire, usually with some trade-offs. Your initial choice of guiding Ethics will play a huge part in which of these Policies and Edicts are available, of course.
Policies are, as I mentioned, essentially laws. They are Empire-wide and remain in effect until directly changed by the player, or as the result of a Faction demand. For example, there are Policies regulating slavery, migration, voting rights and orbital bombardment. As the bureaucratic machinery of a galactic Empire grinds ever so slowly, there is a minimum time the player has to wait before changing their stance on a Policy again. Naturally, various Pops in your Empire will like or dislike these Policies depending on their own Ethics, etc. Should a Faction manage to enforce a change in Policy, that change will stay in effect for quite a while... In all, the system is fairly straightforward.
Say that you are playing as a Xenophobic empire. This will prevent you from passively studying any pre-FTL civilizations you might find, or sharing your technology with them; you can only study them aggressively (abducting and experimenting on them) or invade them outright! In a similar vein, Pacifist empires are not allowed to orbitally bombard planets in support of their ground forces, for fear of killing civilians.
This brings us to Edicts, of which there are two kinds; Planetary or Empire-wide. Edicts usually have a cost (Energy Credits or Influence) and an instant or temporary effect that expires after a certain amount of time. For example, there are Edicts for propaganda campaigns and production targets (something akin to communist five-year plans.)
Policies and Edicts are, like many other features in the game, to a large degree dependent on the tech system, so at the start of the game you should not have to worry about a great wealth of choices; they are made available through research. As with most features in Stellaris (and, indeed, all of our games), Policies and Edicts are very mod-friendly, and we look forward to see all the interesting and innovative uses mod-creators will make of this system.
Next week’s Dev Diary will go into more detail on pre-FTL civilizations, and the various ways of interacting with them!
Click the link for a nice screenshot that has the word "Purge" in it >_>
Additional dev commentary:
An edict is always timed and can not be retracted. A policy is active until changed, and can not be changed for 10 years (currently) after having set it.
Triptycho: A card-and-dice tabletop indie RPG currently in development and playtesting
+4
KadokenGiving Ends to my Friends and it Feels StupendousRegistered Userregular
Late posting of this one. Illness slowed me down for a bit. Anyway, this week's dev diary is on Policies & Edicts.
Hi all!
Time to fire up the rockets and head into space again, for another sojourn in the world of Stellaris. This week, I thought I’d talk about Policies and Edicts; directly corresponding to Laws and Decisions in our historical games. The general idea is to give you some additional control over the rules that define your Empire, usually with some trade-offs. Your initial choice of guiding Ethics will play a huge part in which of these Policies and Edicts are available, of course.
Policies are, as I mentioned, essentially laws. They are Empire-wide and remain in effect until directly changed by the player, or as the result of a Faction demand. For example, there are Policies regulating slavery, migration, voting rights and orbital bombardment. As the bureaucratic machinery of a galactic Empire grinds ever so slowly, there is a minimum time the player has to wait before changing their stance on a Policy again. Naturally, various Pops in your Empire will like or dislike these Policies depending on their own Ethics, etc. Should a Faction manage to enforce a change in Policy, that change will stay in effect for quite a while... In all, the system is fairly straightforward.
Say that you are playing as a Xenophobic empire. This will prevent you from passively studying any pre-FTL civilizations you might find, or sharing your technology with them; you can only study them aggressively (abducting and experimenting on them) or invade them outright! In a similar vein, Pacifist empires are not allowed to orbitally bombard planets in support of their ground forces, for fear of killing civilians.
This brings us to Edicts, of which there are two kinds; Planetary or Empire-wide. Edicts usually have a cost (Energy Credits or Influence) and an instant or temporary effect that expires after a certain amount of time. For example, there are Edicts for propaganda campaigns and production targets (something akin to communist five-year plans.)
Policies and Edicts are, like many other features in the game, to a large degree dependent on the tech system, so at the start of the game you should not have to worry about a great wealth of choices; they are made available through research. As with most features in Stellaris (and, indeed, all of our games), Policies and Edicts are very mod-friendly, and we look forward to see all the interesting and innovative uses mod-creators will make of this system.
Next week’s Dev Diary will go into more detail on pre-FTL civilizations, and the various ways of interacting with them!
Click the link for a nice screenshot that has the word "Purge" in it >_>
Additional dev commentary:
An edict is always timed and can not be retracted. A policy is active until changed, and can not be changed for 10 years (currently) after having set it.
BURN THE HERETIC. KILL THE MUTANT. PURGE THE UNCLEAN. I'm liking this game's jib.
Pacifist empires are not allowed to orbitally bombard planets in support of their ground forces, for fear of killing civilians.
Pffff. You don't win wars by worrying about such things as "collateral damage".
0
Lord_AsmodeusgoeticSobriquet:Here is your magical cryptic riddle-tumour: I AM A TIME MACHINERegistered Userregular
You do, if you're good enough.
I guess if you need to resort to orbital bombardment you should get gud
Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if Labor had not first existed. Labor is superior to capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. - Lincoln
0
KadokenGiving Ends to my Friends and it Feels StupendousRegistered Userregular
When everything is your target, there's no such thing as collateral damage.
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
Late posting of this one. Illness slowed me down for a bit. Anyway, this week's dev diary is on Policies & Edicts.
Hi all!
Time to fire up the rockets and head into space again, for another sojourn in the world of Stellaris. This week, I thought I’d talk about Policies and Edicts; directly corresponding to Laws and Decisions in our historical games. The general idea is to give you some additional control over the rules that define your Empire, usually with some trade-offs. Your initial choice of guiding Ethics will play a huge part in which of these Policies and Edicts are available, of course.
Policies are, as I mentioned, essentially laws. They are Empire-wide and remain in effect until directly changed by the player, or as the result of a Faction demand. For example, there are Policies regulating slavery, migration, voting rights and orbital bombardment. As the bureaucratic machinery of a galactic Empire grinds ever so slowly, there is a minimum time the player has to wait before changing their stance on a Policy again. Naturally, various Pops in your Empire will like or dislike these Policies depending on their own Ethics, etc. Should a Faction manage to enforce a change in Policy, that change will stay in effect for quite a while... In all, the system is fairly straightforward.
Say that you are playing as a Xenophobic empire. This will prevent you from passively studying any pre-FTL civilizations you might find, or sharing your technology with them; you can only study them aggressively (abducting and experimenting on them) or invade them outright! In a similar vein, Pacifist empires are not allowed to orbitally bombard planets in support of their ground forces, for fear of killing civilians.
This brings us to Edicts, of which there are two kinds; Planetary or Empire-wide. Edicts usually have a cost (Energy Credits or Influence) and an instant or temporary effect that expires after a certain amount of time. For example, there are Edicts for propaganda campaigns and production targets (something akin to communist five-year plans.)
Policies and Edicts are, like many other features in the game, to a large degree dependent on the tech system, so at the start of the game you should not have to worry about a great wealth of choices; they are made available through research. As with most features in Stellaris (and, indeed, all of our games), Policies and Edicts are very mod-friendly, and we look forward to see all the interesting and innovative uses mod-creators will make of this system.
Next week’s Dev Diary will go into more detail on pre-FTL civilizations, and the various ways of interacting with them!
Click the link for a nice screenshot that has the word "Purge" in it >_>
Additional dev commentary:
An edict is always timed and can not be retracted. A policy is active until changed, and can not be changed for 10 years (currently) after having set it.
BURN THE HERETIC. KILL THE MUTANT. PURGE THE UNCLEAN. I'm liking this game's jib.
Pacifist empires are not allowed to orbitally bombard planets in support of their ground forces, for fear of killing civilians.
Pffff. You don't win wars by worrying about such things as "collateral damage".
It's not "avoiding collateral damage," it's "leaving someone behind to work the mines."
You don't think we're going to do it, do you?
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KadokenGiving Ends to my Friends and it Feels StupendousRegistered Userregular
Late posting of this one. Illness slowed me down for a bit. Anyway, this week's dev diary is on Policies & Edicts.
Hi all!
Time to fire up the rockets and head into space again, for another sojourn in the world of Stellaris. This week, I thought I’d talk about Policies and Edicts; directly corresponding to Laws and Decisions in our historical games. The general idea is to give you some additional control over the rules that define your Empire, usually with some trade-offs. Your initial choice of guiding Ethics will play a huge part in which of these Policies and Edicts are available, of course.
Policies are, as I mentioned, essentially laws. They are Empire-wide and remain in effect until directly changed by the player, or as the result of a Faction demand. For example, there are Policies regulating slavery, migration, voting rights and orbital bombardment. As the bureaucratic machinery of a galactic Empire grinds ever so slowly, there is a minimum time the player has to wait before changing their stance on a Policy again. Naturally, various Pops in your Empire will like or dislike these Policies depending on their own Ethics, etc. Should a Faction manage to enforce a change in Policy, that change will stay in effect for quite a while... In all, the system is fairly straightforward.
Say that you are playing as a Xenophobic empire. This will prevent you from passively studying any pre-FTL civilizations you might find, or sharing your technology with them; you can only study them aggressively (abducting and experimenting on them) or invade them outright! In a similar vein, Pacifist empires are not allowed to orbitally bombard planets in support of their ground forces, for fear of killing civilians.
This brings us to Edicts, of which there are two kinds; Planetary or Empire-wide. Edicts usually have a cost (Energy Credits or Influence) and an instant or temporary effect that expires after a certain amount of time. For example, there are Edicts for propaganda campaigns and production targets (something akin to communist five-year plans.)
Policies and Edicts are, like many other features in the game, to a large degree dependent on the tech system, so at the start of the game you should not have to worry about a great wealth of choices; they are made available through research. As with most features in Stellaris (and, indeed, all of our games), Policies and Edicts are very mod-friendly, and we look forward to see all the interesting and innovative uses mod-creators will make of this system.
Next week’s Dev Diary will go into more detail on pre-FTL civilizations, and the various ways of interacting with them!
Click the link for a nice screenshot that has the word "Purge" in it >_>
Additional dev commentary:
An edict is always timed and can not be retracted. A policy is active until changed, and can not be changed for 10 years (currently) after having set it.
BURN THE HERETIC. KILL THE MUTANT. PURGE THE UNCLEAN. I'm liking this game's jib.
Pacifist empires are not allowed to orbitally bombard planets in support of their ground forces, for fear of killing civilians.
Pffff. You don't win wars by worrying about such things as "collateral damage".
It's not "avoiding collateral damage," it's "leaving someone behind to work the mines."
You don't think we're going to do it, do you?
Yes, I think we're going to do it, because xenos are untrustworthy in any form of servitude. They'd turn back their tools against the true masters of the universe
Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if Labor had not first existed. Labor is superior to capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. - Lincoln
New dev diary is up! Talk about primitive civs and what you can do to them, although I'm more interested in next week's, now that I know what it will be.
Summary: Primitive civs (non space-travelling) vary from stone age to post-atomic age, and the game has a definitive dividing line between pre- and post- industrial races, but no reasons why. As they said before you can just conquer them, but you can also study them in four different ways: Obey the prime directive (and possibly attempt to stop other races from doing so) and just watch passively. Do the XCom thing and abduct some of them for experiments. Infiltrate them so they will willingly become a part of your empire (in the long term). Or do a first contact and offer them the riches of the stars (this create a protectorate, but infiltration does not?)
I assume that post-industrial civs can have a space presence, but only in their home solar system.
That dev diary is incredible. It's extremely well-written and entertaining to read, and the information it conveys is quite exciting. This is probably my favorite one so far.
And yes, I highly anticipate the next one as well.
Triptycho: A card-and-dice tabletop indie RPG currently in development and playtesting
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This one gives us a bit closer look at science ships and how you survey anomalies. When surveying, you have a chance of success based on the anomaly's difficulty and your scientist's level. Some options are only available if your scientist possesses the right personality traits. Failures can do nothing (except you lose the potential science gain), but they can also trigger disasters. Anomaly event chains are written in such a way that they might go a variety of ways, so even if you've played the game several times you might be surprised at how one winds up panning out.
Not a lot we didn't already know, but it's nice to have some screenshots and a few more details. I am both excited about the joy of exploration & discovery this offers and also very worried about the potential for game balance breakdowns. Civilization's goodie huts are notorious for being disruptive, and I expect more or less the same here (as well as yet another reason to have to save-scum). Then again, these are basically Event stand-ins, and that's one area Paradox has a lot of experience with.
If they keep with the Clausewitz engine formula, balance issues shouldn't be as big an issue. Those games are very comfortable allowing for playing overpowered nations like France to be fun experiences without ruining the challenge. While it is possible to meta-game EUIV or Crusader Kings 2 to take over the world, the game design really discourages it.
*You have discovered: The Sa-Matra*
Whelp, looks like this game is over.
I wasn't interested in this game until I finally broke into Paradox with EUIV. Now it sounds like one of the best things.
Is there ship customization? I hope no. I didn't like ship customization in GalCiv3, too much micromanagement.
Also, space hulks?
SPHESS MEHREENS! DO YOUR DUTY!
If you view the screens, it's notable that the yellow lights on the planet's dark side represents the cities built there, and there's more of them as your population grows on the planet. That is some serious attention to detail going way beyond anything we've seen from Paradox before in terms of visuals. This game is getting some care and budget on top of the usual mechanical wonder.
Well if it's anything like EU et al, we might see Paradox selling different themetic sets of ships as DLCs. I'm not entirely against ship customization being absent. Space 4X has evolved since MOO, and I feel some level of abstraction in ship design is preferable. Maybe customization of just capital-class ships (if there's even such a thing).
Speaking of MOO, it's also scheduled for remake/sequel. Wargaming acquired the license recently:
http://www.polygon.com/2013/8/22/4646738/wargaming-looks-to-total-annihilation-master-of-orion-for-inspiration
Hey guys, we found the person who played Alpha Centauri with the default tech options :P
But seriously, that sounds rad.
I'll probably buy it anyway and become a pansy galactic federation as that seems like what the game is geared more to, but I would like a CK style thing where you have to deal with your governor and generals as much as you have to deal with everyone else.
My most played game on Steam is CK2. My favorite game type is Sci-Fi 4X. I devoured MoO2, Sword of the Stars (before it was on Steam, so my hours don't show up there), and Gal Civ 2 (same).
This game has the potential to end me.
I'm talking hard Harkonnen.
Never go full Weyland-Yutani
From what we know so far it sounds like yes, you absolutely can make the Imperium.
When creating your empire you can choose to be a xenophobic, militaristic, and deeply spiritual society.
Also, you will have various Leaders (governors, generals, admirals, etc) that live and die.
There will also be factions that develop inside your empire that you'll have to deal with. Including pretenders to the throne if you're a monarchy. Not dealt with and it can mean civil war.
Oh, yeah also rest easy, one of the random events that can trigger is basically unleashing Chaos Gods onto the galaxy. :biggrin:
Everyone can be *happy campers*!
I wish fhey would revisit a cold war to modern setting idea. It would probably be more you and rival having proxy battles but if they treated the domestic, economic, and diplomatic situations more in depth (as I assume war would erupt into WW3, giant slogs like Vietnam or the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, or relative curbstomps like US involvment in the Gulf Wars) then Vicky I think it would be really interesting.
Iron Hearts just being a wargame with Paradox mechanics is kind of meh.
I do think an updated Victoria series game could be interesting, but that doesn't seem to be on their priority list and I really don't feel like wading through the obtuse UI and non-intuitive game systems of Victoria 2 (though I could be convinced to give Victoria 2 a try if it's reasonably cheap in the Winter Sale). A post-WW2 setting could be interesting, though the odds of an actual large scale conflict between nuclear powers would probably be pretty low and I'm not sure how much fun manipulating proxies would really be. They are pretty good at making grand strategy games, though, so they could probably make it work.
Anyway Stellaris is looking interesting, I'm quite curious about the rumored virus/parasite race. That is always one of those sci-fi terror scenarios, and getting to play it in a galactic form from the parasite side could be something new to try.
They were going to, but the group that was making it didn't make much progress and it was axed.
Click the link for a nice screenshot that has the word "Purge" in it >_>
Additional dev commentary:
Pffff. You don't win wars by worrying about such things as "collateral damage".
I guess if you need to resort to orbital bombardment you should get gud
Last words of a man who was then orbitally bombarded
"Nah, we are up here. Here, catch."
Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
It's not "avoiding collateral damage," it's "leaving someone behind to work the mines."
You don't think we're going to do it, do you?
Yes, I think we're going to do it, because xenos are untrustworthy in any form of servitude. They'd turn back their tools against the true masters of the universe
http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/12/11/stellaris-a-fresh-take-on-the-4x-strategy-genre
Summary: Primitive civs (non space-travelling) vary from stone age to post-atomic age, and the game has a definitive dividing line between pre- and post- industrial races, but no reasons why. As they said before you can just conquer them, but you can also study them in four different ways: Obey the prime directive (and possibly attempt to stop other races from doing so) and just watch passively. Do the XCom thing and abduct some of them for experiments. Infiltrate them so they will willingly become a part of your empire (in the long term). Or do a first contact and offer them the riches of the stars (this create a protectorate, but infiltration does not?)
I assume that post-industrial civs can have a space presence, but only in their home solar system.
And yes, I highly anticipate the next one as well.
I shall be a merciful God-Emperor, patron of arts and sciences, and overwhelming firepower. Also, strangling Horus in the crib.
None of that retarded technological decay for me. Progress all the time, and rule the universe through hilariously overpowered fleets and troops.