Do you generally want to swap from Corvettes to Destroyers entirely when they become available?
What about Destroyers to Cruisers?
This is one of the things that tends to change substantially with each balance patch, but right now my understanding is that Cruisers are terrible garbage and corvettes have become hilariously good again, to the point that endgame mono-corvette fleets are back to being viable.
The fact that I just killed the Great Khan and his 34k fleet with a 20k fleet of nothing but torpedo corvettes and lost less than 10% of my fleet in the process seems to bear this out.
It seems like mono fleets are considerably more effective than mixed fleets right now.
It's apparently due to ships prioritising the targeting of enemy ships with their own hull type. So two mixed fleets facing off will spread damage evenly, while a mono fleet will concentrate fire on one type, then the next.
It seems like mono fleets are considerably more effective than mixed fleets right now.
It's apparently due to ships prioritising the targeting of enemy ships with their own hull type. So two mixed fleets facing off will spread damage evenly, while a mono fleet will concentrate fire on one type, then the next.
Yep. And I suspect corvettes being so good is related to the fact that evasion/tracking bonuses got bigger again - you can build a corvette with 96% evasion, which means virtually no weapons large-sized or larger can hit it at all, and even medium weapons end up with sub-30% accuracy. And all the small-sized weapons are likely to be on the enemy corvettes, which conveniently get blown up first due to prioritizing same-size targets. And since your weapon loadout is just torps/disruptors, your entire fleet ignores shields completely. And you're twice as fast as a fleet with anything larger than a corvette in it, so you deploy quicker and catch targets faster. And so on.
Apparently destroyer monofleets and battleship monofleets are also good with the right loadout, but why take the slower-moving option when results at the destination are comparable?
Also, a fun fact I discovered entirely by accident: Void clouds reproduce when they destroy fleets, and even, say, a fleet of a single corvette on its way to enforce a real fleet is sufficient to trigger that event. So now I've got a random system with half a dozen void clouds in it at 1k fleet power each. Tempted to see how many I can make.
Something you reminded me of with good clouds: take another look at the creature tech's. With the weapons rebalance, some of them are quite good. For instance, Cloud Lightning has become an L-slot disruptor equivalent, making it easier to field fleets that ignore all defenses without hurting your range too badly.
Something you reminded me of with good clouds: take another look at the creature tech's. With the weapons rebalance, some of them are quite good. For instance, Cloud Lightning has become an L-slot disruptor equivalent, making it easier to field fleets that ignore all defenses without hurting your range too badly.
Yeah, the Crystal-Forged Plating is also really good. It gives 185/460/1150 Hull points, which is the equivalent HP of the T6 Dragonscale Armour and Psionic Shields.
It's going to be outclassed by armour/shields once you start hitting repeatable techs, as there isn't one for Hull Points, but in early to mid game it's a huge advantage that's pretty easy to get.
So I read the new 2.0 stuff, deleted all my old saves from several months ago, created a race of engineering space llamas, and now we’re back off to the races.
I’m still in the first decade or so, and build my second science vessel, can finally afford the new scientist, and I’m off exploring another direction of this galaxy.
Science vessel enters the first system next to my home star. Immediately attacked and destroyed. What the hell?
That guy was expensive so of course I’m going to investigate. I marshall my fleet of five (5) corvettes and head on over.
To find a system full of five hostile fleets each with no less than 11k power.
On my back door.
That’s gonna be fun in 20-30 years.
Sounds like you started directly next to a horde system.
Today's Dev Diary is about: The next patch! Which you can opt-in to test right now!
Hi all, Jamor here. I'm filling in for Wiz this week, as I want my Game Director to focus on post-launch support for Cherryh, our biggest update yet.
Today's dev diary is about 2.0.2_beta: the new build available as an optional beta for Steam users right now (note for Paradoxplaza Launcher users: we're using Steam as our beta testing platform at this time, if you want to try it out please use the Steam key that came with your Plaza purchase).
When we made 2.0, we knew that the scale of changes would be huge, and therefore I budgeted a larger than normal amount of dev time for post-launch support. The objective is to absorb and process player feedback, and perform bug fixes as well as balance tweaks and general improvements. There are almost as many unique play styles as there are Stellaris players out there, and our objective is to hit a good balance point for the maximum number, which you can then further tweak to your own preferences with the new game customization options.
2.0.2 is planned to be a "rolling beta", meaning we will continue to update it at intervals when we have new tweaks/fixes that we want to push to you. Your feedback on it will be crucial for determining the content of the final, official version, so please continue to play and tell us how it goes.
We especially want to make sure we get War Exhaustion/Status Quo Peace right, so that it produces believable and satisfying war results for the greatest number of people. As such, the initial changes in this patch are experimental and we'll continue to iterate on them throughout the test period. Please don't hesitate to give us your constructive feedback.
Spoiler: Click to view patchnotes
#################################################################
######################### VERSION 2.0.2 ###########################
#################################################################
###################
# Feature
###################
* You are no longer forced to make peace at 100% war exhaustion, instead your Influence and Unity monthly gains are reduced to 0 and a happiness penalty is applied to all Pops until you make peace
* Occupation no longer contributes to War Exhaustion, but instead is displayed as a separate factor in war overview, to make it clearer what you need to do in order to enforce demands
* War Overview no longer attempts to calculate a winner in battles, but simply displays war exhaustion gained by each side
* Marauder raiding fleets are now neutral to everyone except their intended target so they won't wreck everything in their path when they go a-viking
* Fixed Gestalt Consciousness empires using Trading Hub starbase module and Offworld Trading Company starbase building, they now use Resource Reprocessor and External Acquisitions Area (name/flavor difference only)
* It is now possible to test-fire a World Cracker on habitable (but uninhabited) planets in your space
* Added tier 5 Dark Matter thrusters that can only be gained by scavenging Fallen Empire ships
* Transcendent Learning ascension perk has been added to the game, and it increases leader level cap and empire leader cap
* Megastructure resources are now affected by country modifiers
* Ship sizes now have a default combat behavior and will prefer computers of that type if auto-generated (Picket for Destroyers, etc)
* Added some more logic for making sure ship auto-complete doesn't switch your desired combat role
* Space stations now use the country_mult modifier instead of the tile_mult modifier and no longer get the tile_add modifier
* When a new ruler is elected, the previous ruler that was voted out of office (if alive) will now attempt to take over the job that was opened up by the newly elected ruler, assuming the leader class matches. Back to the mines, Mr. Ex-President.
###################
# Balance
###################
* Reduced War Exhaustion per ship and army killed
* Militarist ethics now gain -10%/-20% war exhaustion gain instead of army damage bonus
* Technologies that reduce claim cost now also decrease war exhaustion gain
* You now get war exhaustion a bit slower while fighting a Liberation War
* Increased energy upkeep of all Starbase sizes by +1. Outposts now cost 1 energy maintenance
* Base unity income increased from 1 to 2
* Base tradition cost increased from 56 to 100 (does not affect the cost increase from number of traditions)
* Tradition unity cost per system reduced from 2% to 1%
* Corvette/Destroyer/Cruiser/Battleship build speed techs now also reduce build cost of that ship type by 5%
* Habitats now have their own fortress building (Security Zone) that is effective at unrest reduction but provides only a few defense armies and no FTL inhibitor or bombardment protection
* It is now possible to mod away serviles & pre-sapient traits if you have completed biological ascension
* Egalitarian ethics effect on faction influence increased from +15%/30% to +25%/50%
* Corvette Focus trait now requires Destroyers tech (as it's hardly a 'focus' if it's the only ship type possible)
* Scout admiral trait reduced from 20% to 10% speed (so Gale-Speed is faster)
* Admiral now always dies when last ship in fleet is destroyed and there are no disengaged ships to move to
* Drone Mining Lasers are now a bit worse against hull and a bit better against shields
* Broken and shattered planets spawned on galaxy generation can now have deposits
* Thrusters now cost different amounts of minerals and give different amounts of evasion based on which ship size they are for (corvette thrusters are cheaper and add more evasion, etc)
* Reduced cost of hiring Marauder leaders to 2000 energy
* Having an enclave in your border now gives +1 opinion per year instead of +1 opinion per month, as the latter made all other opinion boosts rather meaningless
* Increased opinion bonuses for ally of ally and mutual rivals
* Increased opinion penalties of allying rivals
* Tributary wargoal is now a bit easier to enforce
* Combat computers now give evasion_mult instead of evasion_add
* Asteroid Sighted can no longer pop after the first 50 years, to avoid it happening in large sprawling empires with limited time to respond
* First pirate event now tells you the system where they are based
* Increased time limits of all Special Projects requiring a ship in orbit (new minimum is 3 years)
* Federation fleet is now limited to an absolute max naval capacity of 500
* It is now possible to get the gateway activation tech if you know any other empire that has the technology
* When a Federation enforces ideology on an empire, that empire now gets opinion boosts with the entire federation
# Civics
* Citizen Service civic now also increases unity output from fortress and strongholds by 1
* Aristocratic Elite civic now gives +2 leader cap and +2 governor max level instead of +4 leader cap and -50% leader recruitment cost
* Distinguished Admiralty civic increases leader cap by +2
* Driven Assimilators now have the 'Assimilate' total war CB
* Purifier and anti-Purifier CBs no longer require neighboring status (was confusing and unintuitive to players)
* Nationalistic Zeal civic now gives -10% war exhaustion gain instead of +1 rivalries
* Free Haven now gives xeno migration attraction instead of migration attraction
# Traditions
* Expansion adoption effect now gives +50% colony development speed (down from +100%)
* Galactic Ambition expansion tradition now gives -20% starbase upkeep instead of +2 starbase capacity
# Ascension Perks
* Shared Destiny effect on integration cost reduction changed from -50% to -75%
* Nihilistic Acquisition can now be taken by purifier-style empires
# Edicts
* Drone Campaign food cost increased from 100 to 500
* Learning Campaign food cost increased from 50 to 500
* War Drone Campaign food cost increased from 50 to 500
* Patrol Drones planetary edict is now available to all Gestalt Consciousness-empires
###################
# UI
###################
* Added building descriptions to traditions that unlock buildings
* Starbase upgrade cost and Module/Building building cost now properly show modifiers affecting them
* Renamed Growth Speed to Pop Growth Speed to be clearer
* Added the correct icons for megastructures and starbases in the control-groups UI
* Contacts view has been improved
* Government view now displays ruler & heir skill stars
* Heir tooltip no longer displays skill effects (as heir has no skill effects until they become ruler)
* Clicking your ruler or heir name in Government View will now allow you to change their name and/or title
* Galaxy resources now show the amount actually collected, and the tooltips give you the list of applied modifiers
* Resource modifier no longer show decimal values
* Removed pointless decimals for starbase caps, planet caps, naval command cap, and naval capacity
* Added the country resources add and multipliers modifiers to the budget tab
* Improved how the speed modifiers are shown in the starbase upgrade time tooltip
* Added a more clear warning that deleting templates will also disband ships
* Fixed several instances of a Status Quo peace being called a White Peace in peace messages
* Alert for High War Exhaustion is now more helpful
* Traits that are already present in species can now always be re-added while in process of modifying template
* Aura tooltip now differentiates between system-wide friendly auras and fleet-only friendly auras
* Changed the current value of template designs in fleet manager to show the current amount of ships including ones that only are scheduled for retrofit
###################
# AI
###################
* AI now activates some of its anti-crisis logic when under threat from a mid-game crisis like the Great Khan
* AI no longer picks shared destiny unless it has at least one vassal
* Added separate definitions for mid-game and end-game crisis factions, with slightly different AI logic to respond to them
* Fixed another cause of AI endlessly inviting player to the same war
###################
# Modding
###################
* Added a country modifier for war exhaustion gain (when multiple countries are involved on the same side in a war, the averaged modifier of all of them is used)
* add_threat effect now once again takes country scope (generates threat scaled towards whole target empire)
###################
# Bugfix
###################
* Fixed system/colony tradition costs being multiplied on each other instead of additive
* Fixed additional potential out of sync issues in multiplayer
* Afterburners can no longer be installed on defense platforms, as lovely as it was to uselessly vent fuel in to space as a gesture of contempt to environmentalists
* Deep Space Black Site now requires you to own a planet in the system, instead of erroneously using the same trigger as trading hub
* All Satrapies are now properly liberated when the Horde fractures into the Diadochi
* Fixed bug where the planet class transition effect started too late
* Fixed adopting the Domination tradition tree not unlocking certain diplomatic actions for eligible Machine Empires
* Fixed auto-exploring science ships doubling up (exploring the same system simultaneously)
* Fixed a CTD. Could sometimes try to merge invalid fleets.
* No longer possible to hold Casus Belli on non-empire factions such as Crises and Marauders
* Galactic core visibility is now lifted when you explore all systems adjacent to it, instead of just one
* Fixed empires not being able to see primitives in other empires' space due to lack of comms spread
* Ships merging in to fleets directly from stations now behave properly
* Fixed scientists not dying when their science ship was destroyed in battle
* Fixed raiding stance not having bombardment graphics on planet being raided
* Fixed tooltips for status column in contacts view to reflect accurately what they represent
* Fixed raiding not always abducting pops when it should, due to bad habitability calculation
* Fixed raiding stance not having the correct pop limit (would abduct at >6 instead of >4 pops)
* Fix a freeze when trying to upgrade technologies more than their max levels
* Fixed Determined Exterminators starting with a farm building
* Construction is now paused for starbases in combat
* Fixed force ethics not correctly calculating a government for the defeated empire's new ethics
* Enigmatic fortress now properly disables even after saving and loading the game (status was not properly saved)
* Iron Fist governor trait is no longer available for Hive Minds, making it disabled for all types of Gestalt Consciousness-empires
* Fixed being unable to land armies on a colony seized by Mutants
* Fix bug where queued items wasn't moved to the new fleet design when a design upgrade becomes available
* Fixed Slaving Despots being far too common an AI personality because of wrongly scripted weights
* Disables the bypass cache when calculating the distance to capital modifier, hopefully solving an OOS issue
* Fixed a crash when quitting to the main menu in the middle of a war
* It should no longer be possible to try to spawn a star system with an invalid star class
* Fix crash when comparing the relative power of a country that has no power
* Prevented fake country from trying to initialize a technology module it does not have for some reason
* UNE now uses correct name list when spawned in Commonwealth games
* Fixed revolting slaves greedily snatching the capital planet when they're not supposed to
* No longer possible to force ideology on Fallen Empires
* Fixed Omega Theory tech sometimes not appearing at the end of the Horizon Signal chain
* Fixed an event-spawned science ship not getting a hyperdrive
* Fixed planet unrest modifiers not being properly recalculated
* Fixed Ascension Theory tech not being available to players who do not own Apocalypse
PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS AN OPT-IN PATCH. YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE TO JOIN IN ORDER TO TEST THE NEW VERSION.
Here's how to opt in:
Right click on Stellaris in your Steam library -> select Properties -> go to the Betas tab -> select "2.0.2_beta"
I'll of course ping this thread and let you know when an updated version of the beta goes out. Thank you all for your support, we think it's really great that we get to work with our fan community to constantly improve the game together.
Make sure to check out next week's Dev Diary for a first look at our development priorities going forward in the...wait for it...POST-APOCALYPSE.
....Ahahahahaha. Wow. I just took out one of the awoken empires. Like, fully took out.
Turns out if you do this, all their vassals become yours. I went from having NO vassals to having 5 of em. Not bad, not bad. (I have no idea what to do with all these vassals, but hey, i have em!)
I wanted to make a Xenophile/Materialstic race of Merchants and Business men, who would fund their empire by buying minerals and materials from all their surrounding civilizations.
So whats the game do? Surrounds me 3-layers deep with Militaristic, Spiritualistic or Xenophobic assholes. I haven't met a civ yet that has an initial opinion of me above -150.
The penalties on building mere outposts were already criminal, adding energy on top is insane.
I think it's meant to diminish the tendency of large piles of energy to accumulate in the early going if you can develop your claims quickly. I agree that's a pretty big change though.
Most of the other changes seem like steps in the right direction, in particular the changes to Nationalistic Zeal and Galactic Ambition.
It's making me want old natural border growth more and more. Having to plant a flag over every single system was already tedious to the point of making the new system almost seem like a failed experiment. The frustration only was magnified by the massive penalties to unity from growing, and the constant tedium of constant pirate incursions if you didn't.
I wanted to make a Xenophile/Materialstic race of Merchants and Business men, who would fund their empire by buying minerals and materials from all their surrounding civilizations.
So whats the game do? Surrounds me 3-layers deep with Militaristic, Spiritualistic or Xenophobic assholes. I haven't met a civ yet that has an initial opinion of me above -150.
Good times... Good times...
Well, yeah. You're the fucking interstellar sales department. Nothing but cold-calling, recordings-that-sound-like-real-people, and fake vacations for time shares.
I wanted to make a Xenophile/Materialstic race of Merchants and Business men, who would fund their empire by buying minerals and materials from all their surrounding civilizations.
So whats the game do? Surrounds me 3-layers deep with Militaristic, Spiritualistic or Xenophobic assholes. I haven't met a civ yet that has an initial opinion of me above -150.
Good times... Good times...
Well, yeah. You're the fucking interstellar sales department. Nothing but cold-calling, recordings-that-sound-like-real-people, and fake vacations for time shares.
"Qwantrox! This is G'blorkh from the Clone Organ Replacements division, and we've been informed that your zhleenox are in danger of failing. For a J'horg of your age this is a very serious and risky danger that can easily be averted by some minor surgery..."
The expansion tradition only decreases starbase cost now, instead of adding +2 to your starbase cap. That's getting weaker and weaker to Supremacy.
Yeah, that's... I'm not a fan. Expanding your territory by nature tends to expose your space. I needed those extra starbases to secure my borders way more than upkeep reduction...
E: also, Christ is that ever not going to be enough to offset that ludicrous amount of energy per outpost.
Lord_AsmodeusgoeticSobriquet:Here is your magical cryptic riddle-tumour: I AM A TIME MACHINERegistered Userregular
So for our friday game I'm assuming we'll want to stick with 2.0 and not switch to the beta?
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
AuralynxDarkness is a perspectiveWatching the ego workRegistered Userregular
# Edicts
* Drone Campaign food cost increased from 100 to 500
* Learning Campaign food cost increased from 50 to 500
* War Drone Campaign food cost increased from 50 to 500
Come again? There are food edicts?
(Which apparently you now need to have increased your stockpile to use. Good to know)
Fixed system/colony tradition costs being multiplied on each other instead of additive
Woo!
Thank goodness. Hadn't progressed far enough to determine if it was as steep a climb as it looked, but if it was wrong, it was really wrong.
Compare with the what appears to be really subtle hit the early game and an even subtler boost to the wide long game from the 1% system cost reduction and the flat base increase of 44.
The expansion tradition only decreases starbase cost now, instead of adding +2 to your starbase cap. That's getting weaker and weaker to Supremacy.
Yeah, that's... I'm not a fan. Expanding your territory by nature tends to expose your space. I needed those extra starbases to secure my borders way more than upkeep reduction...
E: also, Christ is that ever not going to be enough to offset that ludicrous amount of energy per outpost.
* Galactic Ambition tradition granting +2 starbase capacity was too attractive, and now only gives -20% starbase upkeep.
...
* Starbase upkeep has been increased to make the Galactic Ambition tradition more broadly useful.
The expansion tradition only decreases starbase cost now, instead of adding +2 to your starbase cap. That's getting weaker and weaker to Supremacy.
Yeah, that's... I'm not a fan. Expanding your territory by nature tends to expose your space. I needed those extra starbases to secure my borders way more than upkeep reduction...
E: also, Christ is that ever not going to be enough to offset that ludicrous amount of energy per outpost.
* Galactic Ambition tradition granting +2 starbase capacity was too attractive, and now only gives -20% starbase upkeep.
...
* Starbase upkeep has been increased to make the Galactic Ambition tradition more broadly useful.
The penalties on building mere outposts were already criminal, adding energy on top is insane.
Yeah; I want to check out the new patch if just because of some of the things that it fixes, but it will also completely break the game I currently have going so I'd need to start from scratch. Having to choose between that and "traditions actually work" is a little annoying.
It's making me want old natural border growth more and more. Having to plant a flag over every single system was already tedious to the point of making the new system almost seem like a failed experiment. The frustration only was magnified by the massive penalties to unity from growing, and the constant tedium of constant pirate incursions if you didn't.
It's an easy fix too. Make it so that you also control any empty systems to which you have more neighbouring starbases/outposts than anyone else
You can build sparse to control lots of territory with few bases and build dense along a border to secure borders and maybe push into enemy territory
# Edicts
* Drone Campaign food cost increased from 100 to 500
* Learning Campaign food cost increased from 50 to 500
* War Drone Campaign food cost increased from 50 to 500
Come again? There are food edicts?
(Which apparently you now need to have increased your stockpile to use. Good to know)
It only came up for me when I was a devouring swarm empire. The food cost, I mean.
0
AuralynxDarkness is a perspectiveWatching the ego workRegistered Userregular
It's making me want old natural border growth more and more. Having to plant a flag over every single system was already tedious to the point of making the new system almost seem like a failed experiment. The frustration only was magnified by the massive penalties to unity from growing, and the constant tedium of constant pirate incursions if you didn't.
It's an easy fix too. Make it so that you also control any empty systems to which you have more neighbouring starbases/outposts than anyone else
You can build sparse to control lots of territory with few bases and build dense along a border to secure borders and maybe push into enemy territory
Alternately: modules that project territorial control from a starbase and help you Fortress it up.
There are definitely angles of attack on this new system they haven't tried.
Am I wrong in thinking that at one point, you could colonize a planet with a robot pop? I have a ton of planets non-habitable for my core race, but they would be fine to just land a bunch of robots on and mine the shit out of everything.
I guess the way it is, I'd have to get the habitability up high enough to at least get one pop on there to administrate then just build the fuck out of robots.
Am I wrong in thinking that at one point, you could colonize a planet with a robot pop? I have a ton of planets non-habitable for my core race, but they would be fine to just land a bunch of robots on and mine the shit out of everything.
I guess the way it is, I'd have to get the habitability up high enough to at least get one pop on there to administrate then just build the fuck out of robots.
I've definitely done it.
I think the option only comes up if you have existing robots on the planet you want to colonize from though?
I feel very proud of myself. I am playing on 0.75 hyperlane density ironman as a Hive Mind and am trapped in a fairly lush sector of space by a friendly Machine Intelligence and the Old Guard Pirates to my west. Not a big deal, except I set off the trigger for the Spectral Wraith to spawn in 40 years at 2205 11.05, because it's egg Pulsar was LITERALLY RIGHT NEXT TO ME. I panick, I am about to be trapped with a rampaging LEviathan in 40 years. So the hive industrializes, it prepares, it builds.
In the year 2245, the Spectral Wraith emerged from its pulsar to find a Starhold with 4 gun batteries and 9 defense platforms all stuffed to the gills with plasma and armor, and 30 corvettes tuned for evasion/plasma/armor and one mission: distract it as long as they can so that the defense platforms can do their work.
Am I wrong in thinking that at one point, you could colonize a planet with a robot pop? I have a ton of planets non-habitable for my core race, but they would be fine to just land a bunch of robots on and mine the shit out of everything.
I guess the way it is, I'd have to get the habitability up high enough to at least get one pop on there to administrate then just build the fuck out of robots.
I've definitely done it.
I think the option only comes up if you have existing robots on the planet you want to colonize from though?
This is correct. I think you may also need to have at least the second class of robots (droids or synthetics) for them to be able to colonize.
+2
AuralynxDarkness is a perspectiveWatching the ego workRegistered Userregular
Am I wrong in thinking that at one point, you could colonize a planet with a robot pop? I have a ton of planets non-habitable for my core race, but they would be fine to just land a bunch of robots on and mine the shit out of everything.
I guess the way it is, I'd have to get the habitability up high enough to at least get one pop on there to administrate then just build the fuck out of robots.
I've definitely done it.
I think the option only comes up if you have existing robots on the planet you want to colonize from though?
This is correct. I think you may also need to have at least the second class of robots (droids or synthetics) for them to be able to colonize.
That sounds right. It's been a bit since my adventure with "Well, that's a Tomb World, but it's in a really important spot and it is size 25... let's make some robots." Pretty sure it's droids?
The expansion tradition only decreases starbase cost now, instead of adding +2 to your starbase cap. That's getting weaker and weaker to Supremacy.
Yeah, that's... I'm not a fan. Expanding your territory by nature tends to expose your space. I needed those extra starbases to secure my borders way more than upkeep reduction...
E: also, Christ is that ever not going to be enough to offset that ludicrous amount of energy per outpost.
* Galactic Ambition tradition granting +2 starbase capacity was too attractive, and now only gives -20% starbase upkeep.
...
* Starbase upkeep has been increased to make the Galactic Ambition tradition more broadly useful.
oh fuck you
Liberties may have been taken with the verbiage, but I think I captured the intent.
I think the power cost would be ok if it were not for the science penalty. One or the other. Probably the latter.
That way your wideness is predicated on your ability to produce power.
I'd rather have the energy upkeep. At least then building an outpost is always a net good (since almost every star has an energy bonus to it) rather than right now where the "Optimal" way to play is to eventually destroy all outposts that don't sit at a planet or chokepoint because the science and unity costs are so high.
Though I will admit I will probably have to finish my current game before I can try the beta, because that change would absolutely tank my economy. Maybe do that mothball refitting trick first...
Posts
This is one of the things that tends to change substantially with each balance patch, but right now my understanding is that Cruisers are terrible garbage and corvettes have become hilariously good again, to the point that endgame mono-corvette fleets are back to being viable.
The fact that I just killed the Great Khan and his 34k fleet with a 20k fleet of nothing but torpedo corvettes and lost less than 10% of my fleet in the process seems to bear this out.
It's apparently due to ships prioritising the targeting of enemy ships with their own hull type. So two mixed fleets facing off will spread damage evenly, while a mono fleet will concentrate fire on one type, then the next.
Yep. And I suspect corvettes being so good is related to the fact that evasion/tracking bonuses got bigger again - you can build a corvette with 96% evasion, which means virtually no weapons large-sized or larger can hit it at all, and even medium weapons end up with sub-30% accuracy. And all the small-sized weapons are likely to be on the enemy corvettes, which conveniently get blown up first due to prioritizing same-size targets. And since your weapon loadout is just torps/disruptors, your entire fleet ignores shields completely. And you're twice as fast as a fleet with anything larger than a corvette in it, so you deploy quicker and catch targets faster. And so on.
Apparently destroyer monofleets and battleship monofleets are also good with the right loadout, but why take the slower-moving option when results at the destination are comparable?
Also, a fun fact I discovered entirely by accident: Void clouds reproduce when they destroy fleets, and even, say, a fleet of a single corvette on its way to enforce a real fleet is sufficient to trigger that event. So now I've got a random system with half a dozen void clouds in it at 1k fleet power each. Tempted to see how many I can make.
Yeah, the Crystal-Forged Plating is also really good. It gives 185/460/1150 Hull points, which is the equivalent HP of the T6 Dragonscale Armour and Psionic Shields.
It's going to be outclassed by armour/shields once you start hitting repeatable techs, as there isn't one for Hull Points, but in early to mid game it's a huge advantage that's pretty easy to get.
Sounds like you started directly next to a horde system.
That will be incredibly annoying
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
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So whats the game do? Surrounds me 3-layers deep with Militaristic, Spiritualistic or Xenophobic assholes. I haven't met a civ yet that has an initial opinion of me above -150.
Good times... Good times...
Critical Failures - Havenhold Campaign • August St. Cloud (Human Ranger)
I think it's meant to diminish the tendency of large piles of energy to accumulate in the early going if you can develop your claims quickly. I agree that's a pretty big change though.
Most of the other changes seem like steps in the right direction, in particular the changes to Nationalistic Zeal and Galactic Ambition.
That way your wideness is predicated on your ability to produce power.
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It is, but lower upkeep better is a better fit for go-wide. Not that go-wide really works presently unless you're very lucky, so far as I can tell.
Teehee.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Well, yeah. You're the fucking interstellar sales department. Nothing but cold-calling, recordings-that-sound-like-real-people, and fake vacations for time shares.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
"Qwantrox! This is G'blorkh from the Clone Organ Replacements division, and we've been informed that your zhleenox are in danger of failing. For a J'horg of your age this is a very serious and risky danger that can easily be averted by some minor surgery..."
Woo!
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Yeah, that's... I'm not a fan. Expanding your territory by nature tends to expose your space. I needed those extra starbases to secure my borders way more than upkeep reduction...
E: also, Christ is that ever not going to be enough to offset that ludicrous amount of energy per outpost.
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I figure we run out the string on what we started last week before trying out the beta content.
I'll probably catch only some of the game this week, due to boardgame / childcare schedule conflicts for my Gloomhaven group.
Come again? There are food edicts?
(Which apparently you now need to have increased your stockpile to use. Good to know)
Thank goodness. Hadn't progressed far enough to determine if it was as steep a climb as it looked, but if it was wrong, it was really wrong.
Compare with the what appears to be really subtle hit the early game and an even subtler boost to the wide long game from the 1% system cost reduction and the flat base increase of 44.
oh fuck you
PSN: ShogunGunshow
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Yeah; I want to check out the new patch if just because of some of the things that it fixes, but it will also completely break the game I currently have going so I'd need to start from scratch. Having to choose between that and "traditions actually work" is a little annoying.
It's an easy fix too. Make it so that you also control any empty systems to which you have more neighbouring starbases/outposts than anyone else
You can build sparse to control lots of territory with few bases and build dense along a border to secure borders and maybe push into enemy territory
Alternately: modules that project territorial control from a starbase and help you Fortress it up.
There are definitely angles of attack on this new system they haven't tried.
I guess the way it is, I'd have to get the habitability up high enough to at least get one pop on there to administrate then just build the fuck out of robots.
Critical Failures - Havenhold Campaign • August St. Cloud (Human Ranger)
I've definitely done it.
I think the option only comes up if you have existing robots on the planet you want to colonize from though?
I feel very proud of myself. I am playing on 0.75 hyperlane density ironman as a Hive Mind and am trapped in a fairly lush sector of space by a friendly Machine Intelligence and the Old Guard Pirates to my west. Not a big deal, except I set off the trigger for the Spectral Wraith to spawn in 40 years at 2205 11.05, because it's egg Pulsar was LITERALLY RIGHT NEXT TO ME. I panick, I am about to be trapped with a rampaging LEviathan in 40 years. So the hive industrializes, it prepares, it builds.
In the year 2245, the Spectral Wraith emerged from its pulsar to find a Starhold with 4 gun batteries and 9 defense platforms all stuffed to the gills with plasma and armor, and 30 corvettes tuned for evasion/plasma/armor and one mission: distract it as long as they can so that the defense platforms can do their work.
And that's how I killed a Leviathan by 2246.
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This is correct. I think you may also need to have at least the second class of robots (droids or synthetics) for them to be able to colonize.
That sounds right. It's been a bit since my adventure with "Well, that's a Tomb World, but it's in a really important spot and it is size 25... let's make some robots." Pretty sure it's droids?
Liberties may have been taken with the verbiage, but I think I captured the intent.
I'd rather have the energy upkeep. At least then building an outpost is always a net good (since almost every star has an energy bonus to it) rather than right now where the "Optimal" way to play is to eventually destroy all outposts that don't sit at a planet or chokepoint because the science and unity costs are so high.
Though I will admit I will probably have to finish my current game before I can try the beta, because that change would absolutely tank my economy. Maybe do that mothball refitting trick first...