Actually, it was more like two hours. Ask
Infinitron; he has the eidetic memory of your typical robot. Keep in mind that simply typing it out is only a minority of the actual work. Composition is where most of the work comes in.
Here's what I've heard about Stellaris, from reading the Stellaris Steam forums, the Paradox forums, and various other 4X forums off and on since the game's release:
- shallow/pointless diplomacy
- shallow economy simulation
- shit-tier AI presents no challenge (some reviewers/commenters go into great detail, here)
- battles are doomstack vs. doomstack, more and bigger = better, absolutely no tactical choices to make, only a retreat button (reinforced by Paradox's feverish attempts to rework the combat in this game)
- paint the map and kill everybody, that's your gameplay
- fucking orc, cyclops, dwarf, elf races and other gay bullshit
I know that these are all true because the preponderance of evidence is huge (and in the case of fucking fantasy races, I've seen them and the negative reviews Steam users have left for them with my own eyes), but I don't know intimately or to what extent. I do think it's worth 20-40 hours of my time to find out, in this particular case.
"Shit-tier AI" is an understatement of the millennium when you can slaughter
, including fallen empires, awakened fallen empires, end-game crisis uber aliens, with just 1 planet on "insane". The only thing that is hindering you a bit is lack of energy. When you have a 120 naval capacity fleet out of 30 naval capacity available you get like -200 energy/month, so you have to do silly things like trade minerals/research/strategic resources for energy. Trading that stuff every few months gets annoying fast. Although you could turn aliens into tributaries and vassals, those options are for pussies only.
You can also wardec
,
except fallen empires, since almost day one and be "The Heir to the Throne of the Kingdom of Idiots" and fuck up the AIs real good or take all their planets. Oh wait they don't have planets.. they only have 1 planet because you wardecced them so now they are building shitty corvettes instead of expanding.
Then when you get bored there are amazing exploits awaiting for you to discover them. Things like complete "diplomatic immunity", endless troops, unkillable fleets that destroy doomstacks, endless influence.