STELLARIS: New Paradox Game in SPAAAACE

[garbon]

Yeah, influence is very important. Critical for establishing outposts.

[Solmyr]

So what do the +X% border growth abilities do now?

[FunkMonk]

Played about 4 hours yesterday. My custom race experienced some slave unrest that I pretty much ignored because I was concentrating on expanding the borders of the empire a bit too much. Eventually I started to run out of food because I was growing too much and expanding too fast. Then a huge slave revolt overthrew my government on my homeworld and declared independence. A moral democracy of all things 

I quickly declared war and began sieging my homeworld but the rebel slaves had a huge army garrison so I had to wait and build up a large enough army to assault the planet while my fleet bombarded the planet back to the stone age. While this is happening a couple pirate groups spawn in unclaimed space around my empire because I expanded way too quickly. The pirates raid up and down my systems destroying research stations and mines. All the while I'm desperately trying to increase the food and energy supplies so I don't continue starving or go bankrupt. I declare martial law on the rest of my planets to help quell the slave unrest and population unhappiness due to the food shortage.

As soon as I feel confident enough of victory I assault my slave-owned homeworld and after a brutal battle I am victorious. I quickly annex the planet and, not long after, switch my race profile to 'Full Citizenship' to not replicate what happened on my homeworld again. The slaves won their freedom after all. Soon after, I deal with the pirates and things are now back to normal.

I just went through an unscripted time of troubles and it all narratively makes sense. That is pretty damn cool.

[grumbler]

Played about 4 hours yesterday. My custom race experienced some slave unrest that I pretty much ignored because I was concentrating on expanding the borders of the empire a bit too much. Eventually I started to run out of food because I was growing too much and expanding too fast. Then a huge slave revolt overthrew my government on my homeworld and declared independence. A moral democracy of all things 

I quickly declared war and began sieging my homeworld but the rebel slaves had a huge army garrison so I had to wait and build up a large enough army to assault the planet while my fleet bombarded the planet back to the stone age. While this is happening a couple pirate groups spawn in unclaimed space around my empire because I expanded way too quickly. The pirates raid up and down my systems destroying research stations and mines. All the while I'm desperately trying to increase the food and energy supplies so I don't continue starving or go bankrupt. I declare martial law on the rest of my planets to help quell the slave unrest and population unhappiness due to the food shortage.

As soon as I feel confident enough of victory I assault my slave-owned homeworld and after a brutal battle I am victorious. I quickly annex the planet and, not long after, switch my race profile to 'Full Citizenship' to not replicate what happened on my homeworld again. The slaves won their freedom after all. Soon after, I deal with the pirates and things are now back to normal.

I just went through an unscripted time of troubles and it all narratively makes sense. That is pretty damn cool.

Well done, Space Admiral Sulla.

[Zanza]

Sounds great, Funk Monk. That's the beauty of Paradox games.

[The Brain]

Played about 4 hours yesterday. My custom race experienced some slave unrest that I pretty much ignored because I was concentrating on expanding the borders of the empire a bit too much. Eventually I started to run out of food because I was growing too much and expanding too fast. Then a huge slave revolt overthrew my government on my homeworld and declared independence. A moral democracy of all things 

I quickly declared war and began sieging my homeworld but the rebel slaves had a huge army garrison so I had to wait and build up a large enough army to assault the planet while my fleet bombarded the planet back to the stone age. While this is happening a couple pirate groups spawn in unclaimed space around my empire because I expanded way too quickly. The pirates raid up and down my systems destroying research stations and mines. All the while I'm desperately trying to increase the food and energy supplies so I don't continue starving or go bankrupt. I declare martial law on the rest of my planets to help quell the slave unrest and population unhappiness due to the food shortage.

As soon as I feel confident enough of victory I assault my slave-owned homeworld and after a brutal battle I am victorious. I quickly annex the planet and, not long after, switch my race profile to 'Full Citizenship' to not replicate what happened on my homeworld again. The slaves won their freedom after all. Soon after, I deal with the pirates and things are now back to normal.

I just went through an unscripted time of troubles and it all narratively makes sense. That is pretty damn cool.

Cull early, cull often.

[garbon]

Is it possible to control what sort of states you start near? Twice in a row, my peace loving UN was started near a series of xenophobic species.

Also, on diplomacy - is key factors that you run trade deals and do things like grant independence to make other states happy.

[The Brain]

Is it possible to control what sort of states you start near? Twice in a row, my peace loving UN was started near a series of xenophobic species.

OK Canada.

[garbon]

Is it possible to control what sort of states you start near? Twice in a row, my peace loving UN was started near a series of xenophobic species.

OK Canada.

I mean I have Civ VI if I just want AI empires that hate me.

[celedhring]

The changes to the game look interesting! I hate the gruyére look of the map but it'll make expansion more engaging than just blobbing your borders.

Will try to go and finish a Stellaris save once and for all, after I complete my current CK2 Zoroastrian save. I still haven't seen a single lategame crisis 

[Tamas]

I haven't gotten far enough to really judge the changes but the totally predictable outrage tsunami on the official forums, from people who had their map-painting algorithm down and well practiced to perfection so they didn't have to put any thought to the game anymore, is hillarious. OMG I USED TO PWN EVERYONE AND NOW I DONT, GAME IS BROKEN

[Berkut]

SO now you have to have a base in a system in order to do anything there. OK.

But why? I am not seeing how this changes the expansion dynamic. It just adds a step to the expansion - build a base in each system.

[KRonn]

The changes to the game look interesting! I hate the gruyére look of the map but it'll make expansion more engaging than just blobbing your borders.

Will try to go and finish a Stellaris save once and for all, after I complete my current CK2 Zoroastrian save. I still haven't seen a single lategame crisis 

I like the new changes pretty much. Building bases in each system is perhaps more cumbersome than building an outpost that covers several systems, but the upside is that the base doesn't have a monthly maintenance influence cost. Bases just cost initial influence to build. Before when expanding you had to be more careful else lose influence gain.

Just started Apocalypse so I'll see how it goes. I had recently started up playing again, pre-Apocalypse, and was really liking it.

[Tonitrus]

SO now you have to have a base in a system in order to do anything there. OK.

But why? I am not seeing how this changes the expansion dynamic. It just adds a step to the expansion - build a base in each system.

So far, to me at least, it seems to really be just the functional equivalent of "planting a flag" to claim a system.  In war, taking undeveloped stations are just "capturing" said flag.

I didn't like, and still don't really care for, the star-based "station" for reach system (because I think in reality, space infrastructure will almost always be planet-centric, not star-centric)...but that is mostly, at least functionally, just clash against my preferred aesthetics.

So far, the functional part of it seems to be working well...I actually really like the new look to borders (though I wish that in war, as you take systems, it would show that by means of some kind of shading).

[garbon]

The Federation and its neighbors in the early 23rd century. That cluster of green ships is where the Federation is currently engaged in "liberating" the Cardassian people.