Stellaris - Paradox new sci-fi grand strategy game

[Goliath]

Is this game possibly worth playing now for someone who did like 50hours before they started re-designing everything and got bored?

No, it's still fundamentally the same game. Since the big redesign (which I liked) there have been no major changes.

The dig sites aren't THAT exciting. Well, maybe good for one game. Because there aren't that many of them so you tend to get the same ones in every game.

Speaking of dig sites, the dig site chain about the fate of the tree people featured surprisingly good writing. I ways actually emotionally affected by it. The reward you get is pretty good and thematic too.

If all the archaeology event chains were this good I would rate Ancient Relics highly. Unfortunately it is the exception. Most digs are just standard, inconsequential Stellaris anomaly bla bla and at the end you get 500 Physics research points! Lame!

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

so far, the most annoying shit that I still can't believe isn't fixed either out of the box or via a mod is UNUSED building maintenance costs.

If you try to let the AI manage your sectors, they'll screw you into the dirt by building buildings on planets where they'll never be staffed and then you'll be stuck paying for buildings that do NOTHING but cost money every month.

Which means you need to go in by hand and disable them. Oh, and yes, they do cost even when unstaffed. Yes, I have tested this. Yes, go fuck yourself if you disagree. Yes, I would like to know of a way to deal with this.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Other than that, I now realize that letting slaves breed unchecked is...a bad idea.

I thought that I could just sell them, but it turns out that no one needs them right now.

They were eating me out of house and home with their food costs, so I figured I'd kill two xenos with one stone and eat them right back.

Now I have a profitable side business selling the most questionable "beef" tacos in galactic history on the market.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

LOL some dig sites are ridiculously OP

I thought the "You can now make Gaia worlds" one was awesome, and now I just got a fucking TITAN from a dig site while I don't even have the tech to build destroyers yet.

Some AIs are about to have a bad time..

EDIT: Before I got the Titan my fleet power was "inferior" to everyone, because I focused on the economy and research (as usual). Now everyone is "pathetic" compared to me. :D

Not gonna lie, but I'm jealous.

So far, the only relics I've gotten are the surprise space dragon that ruins your shit (still can't kill him and get the relic) and the Cybrex relic, which is useless to me as I don't have many robot workers or the tech to make synths, robot armies etc.

I will say I find it an amusing thought to think of pwning half of the game with a titan. I pulled a derelict cruiser out of a gas giant and thought that it was OP for the early game.

I wish that you'd continue to unlock dig sites as you went on instead of just getting what you get at the start. The game has always had a major middle game problem due to no longer having anything to survey. Dig sites do nothing to solve this as they're only early game too.

 

[chuft]

The game has always had a major middle game problem due to no longer having anything to survey.

I got stuck with an immortal emperor whose superpowers related to surveying and anomalies. After everything was mapped.

 

[chuft]

Don't have the Ancient Relics DLC, but just got a relic from killing an ether drake, and was able to active the relic. A teaser?

 

[Preben]

The game has always had a major middle game problem due to no longer having anything to survey.

I got stuck with an immortal emperor whose superpowers related to surveying and anomalies. After everything was mapped.

There are ways to get rid of him. For example provoke and lose on purpose a war with the xenophobic fallen empire. They end peace negotiations with assassination of your current leader.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

that's always been there, it's only been integrated within the new system.

 

[chuft]

So today I found out that Battle Thralls can be both Duelists and Enforcers, despite the Duelists tooltip saying it can only be filled by free pops.

I find it useful to convert part of my servile syncretic species into Battle Thralls so they can fill those Enforcer and Duelist jobs and free up the real citizens for the cushy jobs.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

I got stuck with an immortal emperor whose superpowers related to surveying and anomalies. After everything was mapped.

The most frustrating part is that it's such an easy problem to solve: just give each planet an extremely low chance to generate new anonymously tied to the number of stars/habitable worlds, and give players the option to adjust this at map generation.

There should also some more storylines.

 

[chuft]

Personally I think science ships should be able to get some kind of cloaking technology and be used to survey other empires' space. As it is, you not only see everything you've surveyed, you see everything they've surveyed, too. Which is a bit odd. You should have to survey it yourself or trade something valuable for the info. Also, cloaked science ships could hang out between systems in enemy space to serve as an early detection mechanism for enemy fleets approaching. Sword of the Stars has something like this.

This could also give rise to a sub-game of trying to detect and catch enemy spy ships that are sneaking around surveying your space in preparation for an invasion.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

This could also give rise to a sub-game of trying to detect and catch enemy spy ships that are sneaking around surveying your space in preparation for an invasion.

probably too complicated for paradox to spend time on for free, so good luck ever seeing something like that.

I agree that conquering or allying with empires (because otherwise conquerors would have an advantage over federation builders and fed builders would still have a boring middle game) should logically give you access to their worlds' anomalies though, but even that presents problems. A lot of anomalies uncover resource bonuses on planets or just straight into the stockpile. So you come in, get the anomalies reset and you or your allies get even more bonuses.

tl;dr: reunlocking anomalies alters game balance.

having more of them just spawn over time is a bit better balance-wise

 

[chuft]

I wasn’t talking about anomalies; I just meant removing the fog of war and seeing what’s there in terms of stars, planets and colonies.

 

[trais]

As it is, you not only see everything you've surveyed, you see everything they've surveyed, too. Which is a bit odd. You should have to survey it yourself or trade something valuable for the info.

It used to work precisely like that, IIRC.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

i loved the old border system so much... i also loved to fortify some critical solar systems with military installations and minefields, lots of minefields, and it looked like a real choke point.

 

[chuft]

I started next to a marauder empire. I played for 140 years, waiting to crush those fuckers as they kept forcing me to bribe them over and over. The day came; I wiped them out.

So the Great Khan instantly appeared, in another marauder empire, the Yapathi, on the other side of the map. Long story short, he destroyed somebody and then satrapy'd the Rak. I watched in amusement as he kicked around the AIs for a bit, then got defeated in a battle, but escaped with his officers and spawned a new horde. He kept taking AI systems or making them go neutral somehow, I think he blows up the starbases completely. I eventually grunted and got to my feet, reached for my 200K fleet, and ambled over there in the mid 2300's.

I extinguished every Khan territory; there is no more red on the map in diplomatic mode. The Rak still are listed as a satrapy however, even though I am not at war with them. Their fleets are yellow and neutral; I can't even force-fire on them using the Attack command button in the fleet display. Now and then they somehow spawn a 37K red fleet which goes on the warpath, even as all their other fleets remain neutral and their empire is off limits. The red fleet says "Yapathi Horde - Rak Auxiliaries". In the diplomatic screen it says if I had a claim, I could declare war on them - very strange for a vassal, since normally you have to interact with the ruler. I have spent all my influence building Gateways and establishing starbases in former Khan territory, I am in no position to Claim the entire Rak satrapy/empire.

Since there are no Khan territories on the map nor Khan fleets as far as I can tell, I don't know how to stop the satrapy from spawning these red Horde fleets while somehow giggling behind a shield of neutrality.

 

[thesheeep]

Khans seem to be broken. They may spawn relatively early, completely fucking up a playthrough if it happens to you. And then there are a ton of problems with them diplomacy-wise, as you found out...

 

[IDtenT]

Yeah, my last game had them overrun me through a wormhole. I didn't stand a chance.

 

[Nirvash]

LOL some dig sites are ridiculously OP

I thought the "You can now make Gaia worlds" one was awesome, and now I just got a fucking TITAN from a dig site while I don't even have the tech to build destroyers yet.

Some AIs are about to have a bad time..

EDIT: Before I got the Titan my fleet power was "inferior" to everyone, because I focused on the economy and research (as usual). Now everyone is "pathetic" compared to me. :D

Nah, those are so so.

Gaia worlds relic is a main questline, it cost 350 influence and in the end is just a free terraforming to gaia.
I take a ecuwhatispolis every day of week over that.
Is good if you go life seeded.

The free titan is garbage tier, i lost mine vs 2k drill drones

 

[Goliath]

I've been wanting to get back into Stellaris since that performance boost and sector improvement, but then I keep hearing about bugs. Think I'm gonna wait for one or two versions, or just wait for the Diplomacy DLC.

Yea, Stellaris is ridiculously buggy right now. Version 2.3.1 was legit unplayable with multiple-game breaking bugs, even Paradox was embarrassed.

They quickly rushed out 2.3.2 before the holidays to fix some of the worst bugs. 2.3.2 still has a lot of known, serious bugs in it, though. It is probably a good idea to wait for 2.3.3 if you don't desperately want to play Stellaris RIGHT NOW.

 

[Goliath]

Gaia worlds relic is a main questline, it cost 350 influence and in the end is just a free terraforming to gaia.
I take a ecuwhatispolis every day of week over that.
Is good if you go life seeded.

I get this event chain in every fucking game and it makes playing life-seeded so much easier. The problem is that currently the decision changes districts / features to something random.

That's why I wouldn't even consider it unless I am playing life-seeded.

I mean I guess it depends on your play-style. Player who play wide probably don't care but I always play tall and thus are picky about which planets I settle.

The free titan is garbage tier, i lost mine vs 2k drill drones

You should have used it against space stations instead.

The titan is weak against many small enemy ships with high evasion, but dat firepower totally wreaks early game space stations who can't evade it.

 

[Average Manatee]

Khans seem to be broken. They may spawn relatively early, completely fucking up a playthrough if it happens to you. And then there are a ton of problems with them diplomacy-wise, as you found out...

I thought you were offered the option to surrender and become a vassal?

 

[thesheeep]

Khans seem to be broken. They may spawn relatively early, completely fucking up a playthrough if it happens to you. And then there are a ton of problems with them diplomacy-wise, as you found out...

I thought you were offered the option to surrender and become a vassal?

But which self-respecting Klingon would do that?

 

[Delterius]

Khans seem to be broken. They may spawn relatively early, completely fucking up a playthrough if it happens to you. And then there are a ton of problems with them diplomacy-wise, as you found out...

I thought you were offered the option to surrender and become a vassal?

But which self-respecting Klingon would do that?

Send your entire fleet to die, realize that the khan is a pretty good klingon and become his vassal until he becomes weak and frail and kill them all.

 

[chuft]

What is the deal with ethics attraction? I have an annoying faction that gives me 0% approval rating because they are xeno loving scum. It contains over 90 (!) pops.

I have tried Fear Campaign edicts, Deep Space Black Sites over planets, having a God-Emperor, etc. They haven't budged in 20 years; in fact they have more members than before. Does ethics attraction actually work?