The feeling that there's always a big overhaul of the game just around the corner really discourages me from ever actually playing stellaris. Makes it feel like the current version of the game is always old and busted. Also the "hundred DLCs" business model is very annoying and expensive. Even on sale, looking at the price of all the stuff I haven't bought makes me just go "you know what I think I'll just not play stellaris instead." Maybe that's just me.
It's the Paradox model, it is an issue, and I have made peace with it over the years. I am currently avoiding the game until the diplomacy expansions come out, since that is where I feel the game needs the most work.
But I also realize that the model is the reason why Crusader Kings 2 and Europa Universalis 4 keep getting expansions years down the road. I've listened to developers on podcasts who say that while the current model does make it far more difficult to develop a sequel to the game, there are areas of the game and world that the studio never would have been able to touch had they used a more traditional release schedule.
This is partly why I've not bought it yet. It's a combo of what Bahamut said, too many expansions to try and keep up on, but also players saying what you mentioned about flaws in the game that need fixing and hoping the next expansion will fix them. Then if they are, there's always something else someone points out needs fixing. And my wait for the 'finished' game is never ending.
The diplomacy being so shit is why I tend to just roleplay as xenophobic dick bags. Don't have to worry about negotiating a peace treaty if you're grinding everyone up for biomass to use as new robot parts!
*beepboop*
The feeling that there's always a big overhaul of the game just around the corner really discourages me from ever actually playing stellaris. Makes it feel like the current version of the game is always old and busted. Also the "hundred DLCs" business model is very annoying and expensive. Even on sale, looking at the price of all the stuff I haven't bought makes me just go "you know what I think I'll just not play stellaris instead." Maybe that's just me.
It's the Paradox model, it is an issue, and I have made peace with it over the years. I am currently avoiding the game until the diplomacy expansions come out, since that is where I feel the game needs the most work.
But I also realize that the model is the reason why Crusader Kings 2 and Europa Universalis 4 keep getting expansions years down the road. I've listened to developers on podcasts who say that while the current model does make it far more difficult to develop a sequel to the game, there are areas of the game and world that the studio never would have been able to touch had they used a more traditional release schedule.
This is partly why I've not bought it yet. It's a combo of what Bahamut said, too many expansions to try and keep up on, but also players saying what you mentioned about flaws in the game that need fixing and hoping the next expansion will fix them. Then if they are, there's always something else someone points out needs fixing. And my wait for the 'finished' game is never ending.
It’s a good game that could be improved more than an incomplete one waiting for a DLC. I’ve dropped close to 100 hours into it and am waiting to go back.
I mean, I almost treat most Paradox releases as, uh, a series of games, rather than one game, if that makes any sense?
Like, right now, I'm playing a spacedwarf Empire (with Mining Golems to do the heavy lifting while they make gold* energy) in Stellaris-Cherryh. In a couple of months, I'll do something else in Stellaris-Megacorp-LeGuin (spacehalfing farming empire?). The fact that I'll have a better game with more stuff eventually doesn't really impact my current game, because that'll be a different game where I play a different empire ... ?
Anyone understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?
yeah I'd be happy to look at it that way if the expansions changed the game more substantially than they do, but they really do feel too incremental for that to me.
yeah I'd be happy to look at it that way if the expansions changed the game more substantially than they do, but they really do feel too incremental for that to me.
The game is vastly different than it was upon release. These patches and expansions are not small changes but fundamental redesigns of gameplay and core systems.
yeah I'd be happy to look at it that way if the expansions changed the game more substantially than they do, but they really do feel too incremental for that to me.
The game is vastly different than it was upon release. These patches and expansions are not small changes but fundamental redesigns of gameplay and core systems.
That's not "from" the expansions though, they do the big fundamental system changes with the free patches that they release along with the expansions, so it FEELS like I'm not paying for those parts even though I know the free patches are actually being paid for by people buying the expansions. Brains are dumb.
I can cede the point that diplomacy is sorely lacking, but the way Paradox has been working on this has kept my faith in them for the time being.
Expansion is in a pretty good place
War is in a pretty good place now as well.
let's face it, this is where we will end up when negotiations break down or we just want to subsume our neighbors.
Economics are getting the massive overhaul right now, and they are putting in hooks and loops for modders to tinker with just about everything.
Diplomacy will be that much better when it comes because the ground work will have been laid down with Economics and trade.
I generally play a few new games through every major expansion. It's been working pretty well for me, the game is pretty significantly different each time.
Just looked at some numbers to try and guess when MegaCorp will hit, and I noticed something.
MegaCorp was, by far, the dlc in development longest before getting announced. Trouncing Synthetic Dawn (118 days) and Utopia (105 days) with a whopping 155 days.
Anywho, going by past entries, it's about 52 days between the announcement of $20 expansion and it's release, which would put it around December 15th (So Dec. 18th would be the following Tuesday) which would put it at around 210 days from the launch of Distance Stars to the launch of MegaCorp, blowing past the previous tied record of Utopia and Synthetic Dawn at 168 days. If you go by 168 days, then the release day wold be November 6th, which I doubt will happen, so this will almost certainly be the longest major content drought in Stellaris history.
Just looked at some numbers to try and guess when MegaCorp will hit, and I noticed something.
MegaCorp was, by far, the dlc in development longest before getting announced. Trouncing Synthetic Dawn (118 days) and Utopia (105 days) with a whopping 155 days.
Anywho, going by past entries, it's about 52 days between the announcement of $20 expansion and it's release, which would put it around December 15th (So Dec. 18th would be the following Tuesday) which would put it at around 210 days from the launch of Distance Stars to the launch of MegaCorp, blowing past the previous tied record of Utopia and Synthetic Dawn at 168 days. If you go by 168 days, then the release day wold be November 6th, which I doubt will happen, so this will almost certainly be the longest major content drought in Stellaris history.
On the other hand, it's quite possible they wont want to launch a major update right before the Christmas holidays. I've heard a lot of speculation about early January for that reason.
Just looked at some numbers to try and guess when MegaCorp will hit, and I noticed something.
MegaCorp was, by far, the dlc in development longest before getting announced. Trouncing Synthetic Dawn (118 days) and Utopia (105 days) with a whopping 155 days.
Anywho, going by past entries, it's about 52 days between the announcement of $20 expansion and it's release, which would put it around December 15th (So Dec. 18th would be the following Tuesday) which would put it at around 210 days from the launch of Distance Stars to the launch of MegaCorp, blowing past the previous tied record of Utopia and Synthetic Dawn at 168 days. If you go by 168 days, then the release day wold be November 6th, which I doubt will happen, so this will almost certainly be the longest major content drought in Stellaris history.
On the other hand, it's quite possible they wont want to launch a major update right before the Christmas holidays. I've heard a lot of speculation about early January for that reason.
Wouldn't you want it on sale for the holidays though...?
While racing light mechs, your Urbanmech comes in second place, but only because it ran out of ammo.
Just looked at some numbers to try and guess when MegaCorp will hit, and I noticed something.
MegaCorp was, by far, the dlc in development longest before getting announced. Trouncing Synthetic Dawn (118 days) and Utopia (105 days) with a whopping 155 days.
Anywho, going by past entries, it's about 52 days between the announcement of $20 expansion and it's release, which would put it around December 15th (So Dec. 18th would be the following Tuesday) which would put it at around 210 days from the launch of Distance Stars to the launch of MegaCorp, blowing past the previous tied record of Utopia and Synthetic Dawn at 168 days. If you go by 168 days, then the release day wold be November 6th, which I doubt will happen, so this will almost certainly be the longest major content drought in Stellaris history.
On the other hand, it's quite possible they wont want to launch a major update right before the Christmas holidays. I've heard a lot of speculation about early January for that reason.
Oh I wasn't trying to say "This will be out by December 18th for sure" just that this is almost certainly the longest they've gone without putting out an expansion.
TFW when you're so busy fighting the Contingency you don't notice your Federation has invited the last slavers in the galaxy into it, and now that the war is over they don't let you vote them out.
TFW when you're so busy fighting the Contingency you don't notice your Federation has invited the last slavers in the galaxy into it, and now that the war is over they don't let you vote them out.
I always found that mechanic kind of irritating. It's such a HUGE rep hit and the AI can spam the same war request over and over. It'll turn even the staunchest ally that you've had since the beginning of the game into someone that loathes you more than even your ideological opposites.
I had no interest in the MegaCorp DLC, until I saw that you can be a criminal syndicate which lets you build corporate branches on any empire's planets without their permission, and they earn more income the more crime is on the planet, and you get access to buildings that increase crime. And you can also make them fanatic spiritualist which turns them into a MegaChurch if you want to go full scientology.
I fired up a new game this evening after not playing in a few months. Granted my start was kind of crappy (ass end of the universe) but lots of little changes have happened and, well,
I guess scientists can't fail anomalies but they can potentially take a long time? I kind of like that change.
You need to build an observation post before colonizing a planet? Oof. That kind of sucks.
Whats the general early game strategy? Also, what is playing barbaric despoilers like? I generally don't play explicitly evil empires so I'm thinking some kind of flavor of king/authoritarian hell may be an interesting change of pace. Any good starting ethics/civics or racial traits to take for such a start?
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AuralynxDarkness is a perspectiveWatching the ego workRegistered Userregular
I fired up a new game this evening after not playing in a few months. Granted my start was kind of crappy (ass end of the universe) but lots of little changes have happened and, well,
I guess scientists can't fail anomalies but they can potentially take a long time? I kind of like that change.
You need to build an observation post before colonizing a planet? Oof. That kind of sucks.
Whats the general early game strategy? Also, what is playing barbaric despoilers like? I generally don't play explicitly evil empires so I'm thinking some kind of flavor of king/authoritarian hell may be an interesting change of pace. Any good starting ethics/civics or racial traits to take for such a start?
General early-game remains pretty much the same, but you need to put starbases (not obs posts) into systems before you can "own" them, and to do that they need to be fully surveyed.
Since it's always Hyperlanes, and therefore Bad Stuff can be blocked in at chokepoints, you basically want to expand to the point where you control everything between some of those to the extent it's possible on your map. Mini-pirates will establish bases near you in systems you don't control, so you can game that a little to know where they're coming from or just saturate an area so they're not in it. Rivalries and diplomacy in general are dependent on actual shared borders to a significant degree, so it can be worth it to just fly science ships around exploring for a bit to get an idea what you're working with, though usually with 2-3 of them auto-surveying your intel will be fine.
Barbaric Despoilers is itself a civic that requires you to be in Militarist, Authoritarian, or Xenophobe (or possibly Militarist & Authoritarian or Xenophobe, I haven't tried it) to start, and lets you kidnap guys. Fanatic Militarist / Xenophobe is probably the best approach for leveraging it, oddly, if your goal is to kidnap people and resettle them onto planets your starting species doesn't like as slave labor; I'd probably just take Warrior Culture for the leg up on armies since the invasion part of the military game is pretty flat without bonuses and you'll want to be able to show up, roll in, and leave. Police State or Slaver Guilds might work too. Start in Supremacy for extra "no really though I win, all tech being equal," bonuses and yet-cheaper starbases to expand to those other worlds.
E: Further reading indicates that kidnapping guys is, bafflingly, a function of a bombardment stance. Police State is probably the way to go.
Auralynx on
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AuralynxDarkness is a perspectiveWatching the ego workRegistered Userregular
Also, on a somewhat-premature note, we should definitely get a large-ish multiplayer sandbox going once LeGuin lands. It was educational, when 2.0 hit, to just get in chat with several of you and share mechanics knowledge / ideas.
If you're looking at getting into Stellaris, you can snag the base game for $16 bucks, and a pack of the first 6 dlc's for $38 bucks, all on Steam for the Halloween sale.
Finally! I was hoping they would do something about the way victory conditions work in the near future
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AuralynxDarkness is a perspectiveWatching the ego workRegistered Userregular
The Dev Clash they're running on the test build for LeGuin has been pretty interesting so far; you can take a look on their Twitch page or wait for the edited stuff to hit Youtube.
The Dev Clash they're running on the test build for LeGuin has been pretty interesting so far; you can take a look on their Twitch page or wait for the edited stuff to hit Youtube.
So theoretically you could enter into a migration treaty and then exclusively use the other empire's people to settle worlds near another empire's borders so when war breaks out none of your people die?
So theoretically you could enter into a migration treaty and then exclusively use the other empire's people to settle worlds near another empire's borders so when war breaks out none of your people die?
Neat.
With the new population growth system new pops have a chance of being any species you have in your empire (or in an empire you have a migration treaty with), though it's heavily weighted by habitability so desert races are unlikely to show up on ocean worlds and the like.
So theoretically you could enter into a migration treaty and then exclusively use the other empire's people to settle worlds near another empire's borders so when war breaks out none of your people die?
Neat.
With the new population growth system new pops have a chance of being any species you have in your empire (or in an empire you have a migration treaty with), though it's heavily weighted by habitability so desert races are unlikely to show up on ocean worlds and the like.
Are you seriously telling me I can establish a migration treaty and then set up worlds to be giant Pokeballs?
So theoretically you could enter into a migration treaty and then exclusively use the other empire's people to settle worlds near another empire's borders so when war breaks out none of your people die?
Neat.
With the new population growth system new pops have a chance of being any species you have in your empire (or in an empire you have a migration treaty with), though it's heavily weighted by habitability so desert races are unlikely to show up on ocean worlds and the like.
Are you seriously telling me I can establish a migration treaty and then set up worlds to be giant Pokeballs?
Especially if it's a Gaia world, habitat, or city world. Those have 100% habitability to everyone and so should gradually trend towards being a mix of every species that's either in your empire or one you have a migration treaty with.
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This is partly why I've not bought it yet. It's a combo of what Bahamut said, too many expansions to try and keep up on, but also players saying what you mentioned about flaws in the game that need fixing and hoping the next expansion will fix them. Then if they are, there's always something else someone points out needs fixing. And my wait for the 'finished' game is never ending.
I was about done with Federations until I discovered that ideological wars against slavers make for fast Federation allies
*beepboop*
It’s a good game that could be improved more than an incomplete one waiting for a DLC. I’ve dropped close to 100 hours into it and am waiting to go back.
Like, right now, I'm playing a spacedwarf Empire (with Mining Golems to do the heavy lifting while they make gold* energy) in Stellaris-Cherryh. In a couple of months, I'll do something else in Stellaris-Megacorp-LeGuin (spacehalfing farming empire?). The fact that I'll have a better game with more stuff eventually doesn't really impact my current game, because that'll be a different game where I play a different empire ... ?
Anyone understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?
*
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
The game is vastly different than it was upon release. These patches and expansions are not small changes but fundamental redesigns of gameplay and core systems.
That's not "from" the expansions though, they do the big fundamental system changes with the free patches that they release along with the expansions, so it FEELS like I'm not paying for those parts even though I know the free patches are actually being paid for by people buying the expansions. Brains are dumb.
Expansion is in a pretty good place
War is in a pretty good place now as well.
let's face it, this is where we will end up when negotiations break down or we just want to subsume our neighbors.
Economics are getting the massive overhaul right now, and they are putting in hooks and loops for modders to tinker with just about everything.
Diplomacy will be that much better when it comes because the ground work will have been laid down with Economics and trade.
Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
MegaCorp was, by far, the dlc in development longest before getting announced. Trouncing Synthetic Dawn (118 days) and Utopia (105 days) with a whopping 155 days.
Anywho, going by past entries, it's about 52 days between the announcement of $20 expansion and it's release, which would put it around December 15th (So Dec. 18th would be the following Tuesday) which would put it at around 210 days from the launch of Distance Stars to the launch of MegaCorp, blowing past the previous tied record of Utopia and Synthetic Dawn at 168 days. If you go by 168 days, then the release day wold be November 6th, which I doubt will happen, so this will almost certainly be the longest major content drought in Stellaris history.
On the other hand, it's quite possible they wont want to launch a major update right before the Christmas holidays. I've heard a lot of speculation about early January for that reason.
Wouldn't you want it on sale for the holidays though...?
Oh I wasn't trying to say "This will be out by December 18th for sure" just that this is almost certainly the longest they've gone without putting out an expansion.
Every major expansion has been released alongside a large revamp of game mechanics for all players.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Megacorp is likely the paid DLC that comes with the planet management changes as the free content. They tend to pair things up like that
Sounds like the UN. working as intended.
Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
PSN: ShogunGunshow
Origin: ShogunGunshow
I guess scientists can't fail anomalies but they can potentially take a long time? I kind of like that change.
You need to build an observation post before colonizing a planet? Oof. That kind of sucks.
Whats the general early game strategy? Also, what is playing barbaric despoilers like? I generally don't play explicitly evil empires so I'm thinking some kind of flavor of king/authoritarian hell may be an interesting change of pace. Any good starting ethics/civics or racial traits to take for such a start?
General early-game remains pretty much the same, but you need to put starbases (not obs posts) into systems before you can "own" them, and to do that they need to be fully surveyed.
Since it's always Hyperlanes, and therefore Bad Stuff can be blocked in at chokepoints, you basically want to expand to the point where you control everything between some of those to the extent it's possible on your map. Mini-pirates will establish bases near you in systems you don't control, so you can game that a little to know where they're coming from or just saturate an area so they're not in it. Rivalries and diplomacy in general are dependent on actual shared borders to a significant degree, so it can be worth it to just fly science ships around exploring for a bit to get an idea what you're working with, though usually with 2-3 of them auto-surveying your intel will be fine.
Barbaric Despoilers is itself a civic that requires you to be in Militarist, Authoritarian, or Xenophobe (or possibly Militarist & Authoritarian or Xenophobe, I haven't tried it) to start, and lets you kidnap guys. Fanatic Militarist / Xenophobe is probably the best approach for leveraging it, oddly, if your goal is to kidnap people and resettle them onto planets your starting species doesn't like as slave labor; I'd probably just take Warrior Culture for the leg up on armies since the invasion part of the military game is pretty flat without bonuses and you'll want to be able to show up, roll in, and leave. Police State or Slaver Guilds might work too. Start in Supremacy for extra "no really though I win, all tech being equal," bonuses and yet-cheaper starbases to expand to those other worlds.
E: Further reading indicates that kidnapping guys is, bafflingly, a function of a bombardment stance. Police State is probably the way to go.
Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
Distant Stars is also on sale for like 25% off, so you could pick up everything for 61.78
At least everything until MegaCorp comes out.
(This doesn't include the special edition stuff, but aside from a single portrait it's all non-game stuff)
Finally! I was hoping they would do something about the way victory conditions work in the near future
If it wasn't extra life weekend...
So theoretically you could enter into a migration treaty and then exclusively use the other empire's people to settle worlds near another empire's borders so when war breaks out none of your people die?
Neat.
With the new population growth system new pops have a chance of being any species you have in your empire (or in an empire you have a migration treaty with), though it's heavily weighted by habitability so desert races are unlikely to show up on ocean worlds and the like.
Are you seriously telling me I can establish a migration treaty and then set up worlds to be giant Pokeballs?
Especially if it's a Gaia world, habitat, or city world. Those have 100% habitability to everyone and so should gradually trend towards being a mix of every species that's either in your empire or one you have a migration treaty with.