Stellaris - Paradox new sci-fi grand strategy game

[Axioms]

I wanted to have just one game where I play around with the galactic community stuff, vassal shit, etc. rather than declaring exterminatus on any alien world I see.

Well, then...

vassal shit

Imagine wanting to not map paint in a Paradox game. Lmfao.

 

[thesecret1]

You can actually play tall in Stellaris with things like gigastructural engineering. Ptoblem is, the more megastructures you build, the more "planets" you have to manage. It all leads to that same thing, which is that a strategy game made for macro makes you micro retarded shit. I wish that whole part of the game didn't exist, and you just got resources based on population amount, planet type, and infrastructure.

 

[GrafvonMoltke]

I'll be whaled by whoever I want thank you very much

Every cent spent on PDX games supports the Homosexual Agenda

*spends many cents*

 

[Axioms]

You can actually play tall in Stellaris with things like gigastructural engineering. Ptoblem is, the more megastructures you build, the more "planets" you have to manage. It all leads to that same thing, which is that a strategy game made for macro makes you micro retarded shit. I wish that whole part of the game didn't exist, and you just got resources based on population amount, planet type, and infrastructure.

Yeah you can "play tall" but the gameplay blows. You aren't doing anything interesting and half of megastructures is waiting out long ass timers.

 

[Raghar]

I remember when Stellaris had three modes of travel and felt like game. I played it on background while I was watching streamers on twitch, and occasionally alt tabed to Stellaris. It was nice relaxing game. Then they removed white only mod before I downloaded it, and since then the game is going downhill.

 

[Raghar]

You can actually play tall in Stellaris with things like gigastructural engineering. Ptoblem is, the more megastructures you build, the more "planets" you have to manage. It all leads to that same thing, which is that a strategy game made for macro makes you micro retarded shit. I wish that whole part of the game didn't exist, and you just got resources based on population amount, planet type, and infrastructure.

Yeah you can "play tall" but the gameplay blows. You aren't doing anything interesting and half of megastructures is waiting out long ass timers.

Which paradox game gameplay doesn't blow?
Modern variants of stellaris - meh.
HoI4 was nice in 1.7-1.9 version. Then they screwed it up by adding systems without thinking that are giving few percent there and there.
CK3. - It's 3D and multicultural, and multiskin like. But is there a gameplay?
AoW4. - Previous variants fell like game, thus Paradox chiefs added a standard parts from other Paradox games...

edit: Wow I got two roll eyes thingies under 5 seconds.

 

[Jonathan "Zee Nekomimi]

Then they removed white only mod before I downloaded it, and since then the game is going downhill.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=690796904&searchtext=human you welcomed.

 

[BrotherFrank]

Does it even work with pirated copies? I hope none of you guys are being whaled by paradox dlc model

I know DLC unlockers are a thing but I'm not willing to take the off chance that steam gets around to implementing some way of detecting that (due to too many people doing it if nothing else, this is why it's in your best interest to keep such activities on the sly lest a good thing be ruined), not worth risking my steam account over paradox bs.

So in the end it seems like Stellaris will go the way of EU4 for me: a game that every time i feel like playing it kills my desire once i look at the list of overpriced dlc i'm missing.

Doesn't help that in EVERY game of stellaris i've tried playing recently, it would also ctd towards the late mid-end game. Perhaps due to habitats, perhaps due to pops, perhaps due to some mod conflicts among what I use... Either way the result is the same, a game that clearly does not want me to play it.

 

[Axioms]

You can actually play tall in Stellaris with things like gigastructural engineering. Ptoblem is, the more megastructures you build, the more "planets" you have to manage. It all leads to that same thing, which is that a strategy game made for macro makes you micro retarded shit. I wish that whole part of the game didn't exist, and you just got resources based on population amount, planet type, and infrastructure.

Yeah you can "play tall" but the gameplay blows. You aren't doing anything interesting and half of megastructures is waiting out long ass timers.

Which paradox game gameplay doesn't blow?
Modern variants of stellaris - meh.
HoI4 was nice in 1.7-1.9 version. Then they screwed it up by adding systems without thinking that are giving few percent there and there.
CK3. - It's 3D and multicultural, and multiskin like. But is there a gameplay?
AoW4. - Previous variants fell like game, thus Paradox chiefs added a standard parts from other Paradox games...

edit: Wow I got two roll eyes thingies under 5 seconds.

As far as CK3, much like how I feel about the WoT tv show, I don't care about the "multicult" stuff but the actual thing needs to be good and in both cases it is not.

 

[Alpharius]

Does it even work with pirated copies? I hope none of you guys are being whaled by paradox dlc model

I know DLC unlockers are a thing but I'm not willing to take the off chance that steam gets around to implementing some way of detecting that (due to too many people doing it if nothing else, this is why it's in your best interest to keep such activities on the sly lest a good thing be ruined), not worth risking my steam account over paradox bs.

Not 100% sure but i think mods downloaded for steam version continue to work in e.g. pirated gog version with all dlc.

Edit: ah you were talking about mp, not mods. Nvm just failed a reading comprehension check.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

So in the end it seems like Stellaris will go the way of EU4 for me: a game that every time i feel like playing it kills my desire once i look at the list of overpriced dlc i'm missing.

but eu4:
-is still playable vanilla. vanilla stellaris is a wasteland.
-can be paid 4 euros to be rented for a month with all dlcs instead of having to spend enough to buy a house.

 

[BrotherFrank]

but eu4:
-is still playable vanilla. vanilla stellaris is a wasteland.
-can be paid 4 euros to be rented for a month with all dlcs instead of having to spend enough to buy a house.

Don't remember what EU4 vanilla is like but apparently the consoomer in me recoils at the idea of playing a game without any of its 99 expansions.

Fair enough for the rental pass, probably one of the few good ideas paradox has had in recent times. My gods, they even priced it reasonably, wtf.
Allright seems Eu4 might be on the menu for me at some point this year then.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

with "vanilla" i mean "withoud mods", not "without dlcs".
considering alphamod is no more, there's no reason to spend enough to fund charlie sheen's parties.

 

[Axioms]

Paradox likely assumes that people will forget the that they are paying the sub for EU4. That's why they do it that way.

 

[Jonathan "Zee Nekomimi]

Does it even work with pirated copies? I hope none of you guys are being whaled by paradox dlc model

I know DLC unlockers are a thing but I'm not willing to take the off chance that steam gets around to implementing some way of detecting that (due to too many people doing it if nothing else, this is why it's in your best interest to keep such activities on the sly lest a good thing be ruined), not worth risking my steam account over paradox bs.

So in the end it seems like Stellaris will go the way of EU4 for me: a game that every time i feel like playing it kills my desire once i look at the list of overpriced dlc i'm missing.

Steam doesn't give a shit about this. And it does work with "pirated" dlc or without, all you need it's base game. Host needs to have all the desired dlc so others can use the stuff. (Arghh version or not).
On finishing gameplay, i can never finish one for the past 2ish years because when things start getting interesting gameplay wise, paradox either breaks my save via new dlc or some other stupid update. For crashing most of the time it's the game running out of memory, so certain mods to manage ai building habitats, orbitals and being retard gene mod wise it's desired to avoid said issues later game. I usually run with 200+ mods just fine, rarely crash and it does it's mostly my fault.

 

[Average Manatee]

Paradox likely assumes that people will forget the that they are paying the sub for EU4. That's why they do it that way.

Honestly at this point their DLC prices have crept up to the point where the subscription is only slightly worse than buying each new DLC on release. A new $20 of DLC every 6 months means that "keeping up" with the game costs you $3 a month already and paying $5 a month instead for a subscription gets you all the other DLC which would cost ~$400 when not on sale. So with the subscription costing $2 a month more you're better off with that unless you plan to play EU4 for the next 16 years. Of course I still recommend methods of obtaining DLC that don't involve paying and even if you do you'd be a fool not to find some sale bundle that is -75% off.

Personally I don't get why the subscription is only for EU4. They should have something that costs $5 a month and gives you the DLC for all their games. Now that would be something tons of people would pay forever for and forget about. But that'd be an intelligent decision and they don't make those at paradox anymore.

Ohh and EU4 is also on GoG so "obtaining" that version works if you're afraid about steam banning for using a DLC unlocker. Same for their other games. Frankly I don't think DLC unlockers are even technically illegal since it has nothing to do with pirating content, just unlocking what you already have on your disk. Not that that means anything at all in the real world.

 

[GrafvonMoltke]

You could always not buy the DLC

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

A new $20 of DLC every 6 months means that "keeping up" with the game costs you $3 a month already and paying $5 a month

how long do you usually play a game straight? a whole month? maybe two if you're really into it and have nothing else? perhaps three, if it has LOADS of AWESOME mods and it's the only game you can run. with subscription, you spent 12 bucks. boxes don't exist anymore. if you really want to keep the game, download a pirate copy, it's superior and definitely safer to keep than anything "sold".
this coming from a must-own-physical-copy-at-all-costs freak. the 4 euros sub is the best thing ever happened to eu4's players.

 

[GrafvonMoltke]

My God you people actually have to pay 20 dorra a dlc? Poor you

 

[Axioms]

My God you people actually have to pay 20 dorra a dlc? Poor you

If you live in a not poor country they charge full price. Same way Americans get screwed on drug costs.

 

[BrotherFrank]

GOG version with unlocked does seem the route to go if I ever want to go down this path. As it stands though I've got plenty of other games to play so isn't like I'm desperate and my last times playing Stellaris where it became unplayable once I started getting invested really poured cold water on my enthusiasm.

Does it even work with pirated copies? I hope none of you guys are being whaled by paradox dlc model

Steam doesn't give a shit about this.

Rookie mistake. This is what everyone who has ever run or been part of an under the table or legally dubious operation has thought 5 minutes before they get caught.
"The Warden doesn't give a shit about this, let's keep bribing guards to allow us prostitutes and smuggle in good food."
"Record companies doesn't give a shit about this, i'mma keep torrenting 10000 of the current most trending songs"
"The IRS doesn't give a shit about this, so what if I slightly undersell how much taxes I owe?"

Complacency and carelessness is how these things get ruined, gotta be street smart. Because ultimately if something does happen and you are the 0.1% unlucky enough to get made an example off, no one is going to be there to bail you out or reimburse your losses.
Steam doesn't care because either they are too busy counting their money, don't currently have a reliable way to detect the unlocker or someone ran the maths and figured it just wasn't worth going after the amount of people who do it.

Ain't trying to be a square here, just warning fellow codexers not to become lazy and complacent about those things.

 

[v1c70r14]

Stellaris has been out since 2016 and received constant updates and DLC packs since release and it's still not half as good as Star Trek: Birth of the Federation, a game I just tried for the first time. No matter how hard you try every faction is bland in Stellaris, and land you in the exact same micro routine, and you'll either be fast-forwarding the game without doing anything or you'll be clicking through meaningless popup windows and adjusting planets individually despite the scale of the game not meshing with this at all. Some people thought Master of Orion 2 was too micro heavy and that wasn't nearly as large or had you doing the kind of bullshit you're forced through in Stellaris.

Meanwhile BotF features truly distinct factions despite them all being guys in minimal rubber masks due to Gene Rodenberry not wanting to cover up the actors too much in TNG. Not only do they have very different ships and buildings, but your relationships with the minor races of the galaxy change, plus the UI and voiceovers change with each faction. The game is turn-based and every turn counts, no mindlessly fast-forwarding while nothing happens, and it's scaled in such a way that making planetary decisions make sense and have a great impact on your empire. Instead of the extremely gay scaling of Stellaris the planets in a system are found in a menu where they ought to be, not in a blob play-space. If you can travel between stars you shouldn't have to wait for your starship to move from planet to planet in a single star system.

The diplomacy system is also far superior in BotF, with different stances you can take, and allying yourself with lesser factions give you huge bonuses in distinct ways that have a lot of character. Once you take the Betazoid under your wing you get a huge bonus against spies for example, or how would you like double the industrial output? It doesn't sound like a lot but compared to the generic generated heaps of trash you encounter in Stellaris it's night and day. The difference between procedurally generated levels in an FPS and peak 90's professional level design.

MicroProse could knock out a license game in 1999 after SimTex had shut down and the Firaxis guy had jumped ship that blows Stellaris out of the water. At the time of release 4X players were too busy playing Alpha Centauri to take much notice of it, but if you have played the gold standard of the genre to death, Master of Orion and its sequel, then you owe it to yourself to pick this up and play it. It runs on Windows 10 without any fiddling around. Zero DLC, no expansions and it was churned out to coincide with a movie release and it still dunks on Stellaris in every single category. Despite it being weaker than in MoO the ship to ship combat is much better than in Stellaris too, turns out actually commanding your ships is much more engaging than playing progress quest in space.

Temba, his arms wide.

 

[Camel]

So I checked the last two Stellaris DLCs and judging by players reviews I should avoid it. They cost $20 each and add only cloaking(stealth) tech and leader upgrades. Paradox made a retarded hard 10 leader cap which doesn't scale at all with a huge 1000-star galaxy and I play exclusively huge galaxies. Not going to throw $40 for the DLCs of the 7-year-old game.

This one is difficult. I wish I could just sorta kinda maybe recommend it. The new leaders are fun! The new stories are fun! But if you play a 1000 star galaxy, you will find half your empire is empty by the mid to late game. They have a new hard cap on leaders, if you go over 10 (with many traditions and civics taken to even get that far), then you start losing exp. By 12, you may as well kiss any usefulness of leaders good by.

What does this look like? A handful on the council. One or two admirals for your 5 fleets. Maybe three governors for your 20 planets. Three scientists... and a general. Billions under your rule and care, but a dozen people are all that can lead it. From a roleplaying perspective, it sucks. And there are so many empty portraits everywhere, it's like the game is constantly taunting me and reminding me of the people that used to fill those slots before this DLC.

On the forums, devs have admitted they do not balance for larger galaxy sizes and so the cap will always feel bad and not scale with our empires there. So if you like to play a sandbox in a larger galaxy, going to have to give this a Not Recommend. However, you may enjoy it if you play on smaller galaxies with faster end times as you won't hit the cap nearly as hard or fast with what you need to run your empire.

 

[Perkel]

Huge galaxies tend to break stellaris design. Your empire gets too big to the point that all those different events etc. start to not matter at all and they feel more like checklists rather than empire changing events.

 

[Camel]

Huge galaxies tend to break stellaris design. Your empire gets too big to the point that all those different events etc. start to not matter at all and they feel more like checklists rather than empire changing events.

Empire getting too big + micro-hell + "endgame lag" = finished the game only once thanks to Nemesis.