Stellaris - Paradox new sci-fi grand strategy game

[Norfleet]

CK sort of fixed this my making realms prone to collapse with each transition of power.

They did not. What happens is that this becomes a hurdle the player must overcome relatively early on, because transitions of power happen fairly regularly, but the AI never actually learns to overcome this problem, so the player gets more powerful while the AI realms that would oppose the player all implode. CK3 exaggerates this in the extreme, making it so you're expected to overcome the system under the worst possible conditions early on, and then later giving you the tools you needed back then, much much later, after you've now adapted to no longer need them anyway.

This is, honestly, a fairly common design paradigm: Introduce problems early, make the solutions something you acquire with research/advancement. This leaves the player having to solve the problem without the solution, and having done so, everything becomes trivial. It's not quite like this in the real world, where solutions are usually problems of their own.

I tried another game, set the crisis strenght to 2x, high difficulty etc. Nothing happened whole game, all my neighbors were much stronger so i couldn't attack them. Then just as i was clearing out the L-gate cluster this religious fallen empire awakened and started conquering the universe. They were neutron sweeping and invading all over the place and the "galactic community" had nothing to say about it. What pisses me off is that they can use the L-gates to attack me from anywhere, for some reason the FTL inhibitor doesn't work on them. Fuck this game

This is the problem with "difficulty settings" in such games: They don't actually make the endgame harder or more interesting, and instead turn the game into a rush for the endgame because the early game has been completely destroyed by the AI's cheats. The early game becomes unplayable and you're basically just rushing for the endgame so you can overcome the AI's cheats.

The game then becomse ruined forever at all difficulties because the player has now adapted into this playstyle, which makes crunching any easier settings trivial.

 

[chuft]

Is there any mod/settings that makes stellaris hard in late game?

No 4X is ever hard in the late game. By the late-game, you've naturally passed all the early-game hurdles that were the hard part and are on the victory stretch. There's simply no way it can really get "harder" when all your opponents already existed from the beginning and you've already overcome or at least survived them for this long. That's why an attempt to add a challenge to the late-game generally involves some kind of off-map invader.

Not always true of games that are actually good. Like this SMAC game, where I had a gigantic empire, then got the orbital tech that revealed the rest of the map, and I saw what awaited me in the southern hemisphere: the Uber-Yang.

 

[chuft]

Planet busters were liberally employed.

 

[Norfleet]

But were they actually HARD? I mean, sure, they have a lot of clay, but their placement is terrible, their infrastructure nonexistent, and all their cities are basically crap. I've seen this before, too. They have no actual ability to meaningfully threaten you with their primitive junk, which is why you had never encountered them before that point.

 

[chuft]

I never encountered them because I play on gigantic maps and I was dealing with my own area. I never could have beaten this Yang (at least before game end, this was already in 2411 and we hadn't even started to fight) without nukes.

 

[IDtenT]

I hate games where the AI cheats, so I play with the default difficulty in all Paradox games.

If it gets too easy then so be it.

 

[Monkeyfinger]

Shortening game length from 300 to 225 makes stellaris a lot more enjoyable. The 75 years you're shaving off are the most burdensome, tedious and micro intensive ones.

 

[Storyfag]

Shortening game length from 300 to 225 makes stellaris a lot more enjoyable. The 75 years you're shaving off are the most burdensome, tedious and micro intensive ones.

Yeah, quicker mid-game, quicker end-game and quicker research rate result in a palatable experience.

 

[Joggerino]

Shortening game length from 300 to 225 makes stellaris a lot more enjoyable. The 75 years you're shaving off are the most burdensome, tedious and micro intensive ones.

It could help with the horrible late game performance too.

 

[Riel]

Why would anyone care about this piece of shit, now that Distant Worlds 2 is confirmed for release this year?

Are they going to revamp economy, because while the fundamentals are interesting it ended being a neo-liberal focused game, low taxation-> economic growth -> become rich. I found it astoundingly boring.

 

[Norfleet]

I never encountered them because I play on gigantic maps and I was dealing with my own area. I never could have beaten this Yang (at least before game end, this was already in 2411 and we hadn't even started to fight) without nukes.

Well, of course not: What would you expect to fight them? Beating them to death one by one with stone axes? When you're dealing with a pest problem of that magnitude, you sort of have to nuke it. It's the only way to be sure. Why would you even WANT to conquer that horrid morass of awfully placed shitties and random spam? Nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.

Incidentally, that's another thing the AI is bad at in Civ-likes: building something that makes you think "It sure would be nice to own this myself", as opposed to "ugh, what a disaster area".

The point is they were still easy, having no defense against this, nor any counter-response, despite such defenses existing in the game.

 

[chuft]

It's been a long time, but I seem to recall scient finding a logic problem with the code for the missile defenses when he was making his unofficial patch.

 

[Preben]

Stellaris angers me. It's a bad game with lots of tedious micro, non-existing internal politics, outright boredom, brain-dead AI and worst of all the horrid engine and optimalization which grind the game to a halt even on high-end machines.

Yet at the same time, it has so many fresh and good ideas like the wonderful ideas such as the randomness, diversity of empire types, the lots of story features such as anomalies or archeology.

This game reeks of wasted potential.

 

[KK1001]

Paradox is Wasted Potential: The Company. They've been spinning their wheels for 15 years now. Their streamlining and DLC practices are like 10 years out of touch with the rest of the industry.

 

[Ibn Sina]

Stellaris angers me. It's a bad game with lots of tedious micro, non-existing internal politics, outright boredom, brain-dead AI and worst of all the horrid engine and optimalization which grind the game to a halt even on high-end machines.

Yet at the same time, it has so many fresh and good ideas like the wonderful ideas such as the randomness, diversity of empire types, the lots of story features such as anomalies or archeology.

This game reeks of wasted potential.

I said before empires in stellaris are diverse if you count +1% mineral -0.5% energy production different. There is no actual distinction between different empires. By late mid-game everyone is virtually the same, using the same technologies, same ships, same strategies.

 

[Average Manatee]

Stellaris angers me. It's a bad game with lots of tedious micro, non-existing internal politics, outright boredom, brain-dead AI and worst of all the horrid engine and optimalization which grind the game to a halt even on high-end machines.

Yet at the same time, it has so many fresh and good ideas like the wonderful ideas such as the randomness, diversity of empire types, the lots of story features such as anomalies or archeology.

This game reeks of wasted potential.

I said before empires in stellaris are diverse if you count +1% mineral -0.5% energy production different. There is no actual distinction between different empires. By late mid-game everyone is virtually the same, using the same technologies, same ships, same strategies.

And by the midgame the average worker produces like 200% minerals anyway so the largest difference between the weakest possible mining nation and the most min-maxed mining nation is around 195% vs. 215%. i.e. fucking nothing.

 

[Keshik]

I hate games where the AI cheats

Isn't that all of them though ?

 

[Joggerino]

I actually had a shockingly enjoyable stellaris lategame recently. I had half the universe in my federation, and as i was keeping the nanites at bay in the L cluster, this fallen empire awakened and started conquering. Just as i finished with the nanites i realized they conquered or vassalized every empire that wasn't in my federation. At this point i was just completing my gateway network and still didn't have any finished megastructures while they wielded 180k fleets. It ended up in a war of attrition where i had to use all my fleets to defend chokepoints through gateways while buying as much alloy as possible to replace the constant losses. The war ended due to war exhaustion, I lost the L cluster and every federation member except me was reduced to one planet or destroyed. Two wars later the scourge attacked but was wiped out in a matter of months by the fallen empire but i finally managed to get the dyson sphere and matter converter online and built up 4 fleets of 100k strenght each with 1000 alloys per month production. I declared war on them and ambushed their fleets in neutral space, then sent one fleet with a colossus to wipe their top planets while they were busy attacking my borders. Eventually they couldn't replenish their losses anymore and i won the game.

 

[Jonathan "Zee Nekomimi]

I hate games where the AI cheats, so I play with the default difficulty in all Paradox games.

If it gets too easy then so be it.

i put on the hardest and still counter cheat the AI

 

[Jonathan "Zee Nekomimi]

Stellaris angers me. It's a bad game with lots of tedious micro, non-existing internal politics, outright boredom, brain-dead AI and worst of all the horrid engine and optimalization which grind the game to a halt even on high-end machines.

Yet at the same time, it has so many fresh and good ideas like the wonderful ideas such as the randomness, diversity of empire types, the lots of story features such as anomalies or archeology.

This game reeks of wasted potential.

i miss when all u had to care was putting the pops in their designated squares, stead of the now sector bullshit. Stopped playing after that.

 

[Perkel]

The problem with stellaris is that it is not actually grand strategy game but just civ clone. It has the same exact issues as civ clone because it is civ clone.

The main feature of grand strategy game is uneven ground. How fucked you are depends only on your choice of nation. In Stellaris everyone starts from same point + some retarded "advanced civilizations" that stopped expanding.

 

[Forest Dweller]

So is this Intel thing part of the Nemesis DLC? Maybe the free part?

 

[Joggerino]

The problem with stellaris is that it is not actually grand strategy game but just civ clone. It has the same exact issues as civ clone because it is civ clone.

The main feature of grand strategy game is uneven ground. How fucked you are depends only on your choice of nation. In Stellaris everyone starts from same point + some retarded "advanced civilizations" that stopped expanding.

Stellaris was always known to be a 4x game, that shouldn't be a problem by itself.

 

[thesecret1]

Stellaris was always known to be a 4x game, that shouldn't be a problem by itself.

It was actually marketed as a "4X/GSG hybrid".

 

[Space Satan]

DD

Spoiler

Hello everyone!

Today we’re back again with yet another dev diary; number 200 in fact. It sure has been a very exciting journey for Stellaris, and I think it is only going to get better! Nemesis is shaping up to be a very interesting addition to Stellaris, and today we thought we would talk about another headline feature for our upcoming expansion – namely the Custodian.

While some empires seek to set the universe on fire, others need to find their destiny as its defender. As we mentioned last week, the Galactic Community will get their own tools to fight the crisis, and that is what they can do by electing their chief crisis fighter.

We are setting the stage for these two nemeses to battle over the fate of the galaxy, and it is up to you who will win.

Becoming the Custodian
As soon as there is a Galactic Council, the Galactic Community can propose to elect one of the council members to become the Custodian. It is possible to have multiple proposals going at once, but as soon as a resolution is passed that elects a Custodian, others cannot be proposed anymore, as the choice has already been made.

1613033770855.png

Time to get to work.
Powers of the Custodian
In order to be effective at their role, the Custodian must gain access to some special powers. The Custodian may need to be able to affect which resolutions move to the Senate Floor, so they have extended powers to be able to influence that more directly.

1613033803256.png
grekulf · Feb 11, 2021 at 13:00

" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; max-width: 100%; cursor: pointer;">

The Custodian in the Galactic Community.
Prematurely End Session: A Custodian can end the current session after half of its voting period, which will pass or reject the resolution being voted on depending on the voting situation at the time.

Emergency Measures: The Custodian can use the Emergency Measures power to send a proposal to the Senate Floor, but has a much lower cooldown than regular council members.

Shared Intel: The Custodian will gain some Intel on all other members of the Galactic Community, such as knowing their Relative Fleet Power.

Freezing proposals: The custodian can pay 200 influence to freeze a resolution for 4 years, making it impossible for the resolution to move to the Senate Floor for the duration.

Brrrr. Will you be resolute and wait it out..?
Custodial Resolutions
There are a number of new Resolutions that are tied to the Custodian. Let’s take a look at some of them:

1613033891412.png
grekulf · Feb 11, 2021 at 13:00

" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(73, 205, 155); cursor: pointer;">

1613033917554.png
grekulf · Feb 11, 2021 at 13:00

" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(73, 205, 155); cursor: pointer;">

1613033939548.png
grekulf · Feb 11, 2021 at 13:00

" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(73, 205, 155); cursor: pointer;">

1613033960672.png
grekulf · Feb 11, 2021 at 13:00

" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(73, 205, 155); cursor: pointer;">

1613033980974.png
grekulf · Feb 11, 2021 at 13:00

" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(73, 205, 155); cursor: pointer;">

1613034008468.png
grekulf · Feb 11, 2021 at 13:00

" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(73, 205, 155); cursor: pointer;">

1613034026085.png
grekulf · Feb 11, 2021 at 13:00

" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(73, 205, 155); cursor: pointer;">

1613034055882.png
grekulf · Feb 11, 2021 at 13:00

" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(73, 205, 155); cursor: pointer;">

1613034070782.png
grekulf · Feb 11, 2021 at 13:00

" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(73, 205, 155); cursor: pointer;">

1613034086591.png
grekulf · Feb 11, 2021 at 13:00

" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(73, 205, 155); cursor: pointer;">

Galactic Defense Force
In order to protect the galaxy from threats from within and from beyond, the Custodian is able to construct ships for a Galactic Defense Force. The GDF is very similar to a federation fleet in the way it works, with the exception that it’s under the control of the current Custodian.

Should there cease to be a Custodian, the GDF will become an independent entity until a new Custodian is established.

Once again, similar to federation ships, the GDF ships can be designed in the ship designer., which can be accessed from the Galactic Community UI.

1613034141288.png
Nemesis. After one crisis has been defeated, maybe the next one is just around the corner… and this time it's a diplomatic one.