STELLARIS: New Paradox Game in SPAAAACE

[Berkut]

PDH, I really suggest you give the mid game a try playing very actively.

There is something lost in that the game doesn't drive the action, but if you drive it, it can be a lot of fun.

Try to take out a ancient empire, for example.

[Josquius]

Makes sense if you're playing an evil empire.
Makes it hard to play a peaceful empire though.

[garbon]

No idea if video said anything interesting (don't care for vids) but announcement on expansion sounds like yeah, fair bit more storytelling. Will be interesting to see how much is paid vs. free.

[Syt]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/09/15/stellaris-leviathans-expansion/

Paradox have announced the first meaty expansion for their sci-fi strategy epic Stellaris [official site]. It goes by the name Leviathans and they're calling it a 'Story Pack', which makes me think this might be where former Failbetter scribe Alexis Kennedy has been sticking his nib. It seems like a smart place to put him if so. Kennedy was the lead writer on Sunless Sea and the trailer for Leviathans looks an awful lot like it's channeling Terror From the Deep. Take a look.

I cannot wait to scrabble around looking for a Cthulhu's snooze button when I accidentally trip his alarm.

There'll be new music, portrait packs, events and other bits and pieces, but the main attractions are right here in this feature list:

In Stellaris: Leviathans, the galaxy will be filled anew with adventure and challenge as your new and naïve space-faring empire comes face-to-face and ship-to-ship with a host of dangers and rewards.

Guardians: Powerful space entities with mysterious origins and motives. Fight or investigate them to unlock technologies and gain access to great treasures.

Enclaves: Independent outposts of traders and artists who are willing to make a deal. Exchange resources, purchase information about the galaxy, or commission a great work of art for your empire.

War In Heaven: Where will your fledgling empire lie if two ancient Fallen Empires decide to renew old grievances in a War in Heaven? Will you err on the side of caution and take a side with the stronger power, or will you strike at both whilst they are occupied with their own titanic struggle?

Look how tiny your little space empire is! That's what Leviathans seems to be saying, with its ancient Guardians, ominous cosmic scale threats, and wars between deity-level Fallen Empires. I think that's precisely what Stellaris should be saying. Like so many games in its genre, it's strongest when the map is still home to mysteries and at its least interesting when you switch your attention toward controlling rather than discovering.

That Paradox are calling this a story pack may be an acknowledgement that Stellaris is built around a marriage of writing and mechanics in a different way to the studio's grand strategy titles. In Europa Universalis and the rest, the stories generally emerge from the systems as you play, and while it's true that there are event chains to discover, they're not on the same level as the ones found in Stellaris.

In the grand strategy games, you're writing the history of the world as you play. In Stellaris, you're discovering the history of a galaxy, and writing one small chapter. That's why it's good that Leviathans seems to be highlighting how tiny and naive your empire is – in the grand scheme of things, your adventures in space are the blink of an eye. And whatever's waiting out there probably has a billion eyes.

The video is just a short cinematic, but a decently cool one as those things go, IMHO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=64&v=REijXUSQrQc

[Phillip V]

I am excited by the story pack.  Since it mentions new music and graphics, I assume there will not be a separately sold content pack?

[Zanza]

The patch after Heinlein will be called Banks. Let's see what that entails. Maybe AI, orbitals or interference with less developed societies. Hmm.

[garbon]

Enclaves don't sound that interesting. Mainly like the city-states of Civilisation.

[Berkut]

I cannot find a date for this...has anyone seen one?

[garbon]

I cannot find a date for this...has anyone seen one?

So far they've just send this autumn.

[Zanza]

Hello everyone and welcome to another Stellaris development diary. Today we'll continue talking about the Leviathans Story Pack, specifically its headline feature: the Guardians.

The Guardians (Paid Feature)
The Guardians, or Leviathans as they're also known, are space-dwelling beings of immense power. They vary a great deal in biology and composition: Some are enormous space creatures, some are technological remnants of ancient civilizations, and some are something far different altogether. How you find them also varies - some you may encounter in their home systems, jealously guarding their territory, others may be unleashed on the galaxy by exploring the wrong planet or star.

The chance of a particular Guardian being present in your game will depend on the size of your galaxy - a tiny galaxy might only have one or two, while a Huge galaxy might contain nearly all or even all of them if you explore far enough. Defeating them, or in some cases, helping them, will unlock rewards in the form of resources, empire-wide modifiers and unique technologies. Guardians vary in power, but are meant to be a serious challenge for a mid-game empire, so don't expect to be able to bring them down in the first decades of the game.

Below I am going to talk a little about a few of the Guardians. These are just a sample and not nearly all of them, but we want to avoid showing off everything there is for a player to find in the Leviathans Story Pack for those who wish to explore and find out for themselves.


The Space Dragon
The Space Dragon is a capricious being, jealously guarding its hoard. With this particular Guardian, there is no reasoning or dialogue... it wants to be left alone, and will attack any and all trespassers in its territory. If you wish to get at its hoard, you will have to slay it, and you had best be sure to bring a large enough fleet - anger it enough, and it will not settle for simply driving you off. Should you bring it down, however, the vast mineral riches of its hoard will be yours to claim... and who knows what you might find among the treasures. Technology, artifacts... perhaps even a dragon egg?


The Infinity Machine
The Infinity Machine, a strange metal sphere, sits at the edge of a massive black hole, unmoving. It does not attack as you approach, does not communicate, does not even react. It seems to be waiting for something. Perhaps if you find a way to speak with it, you can find out what it wants. Perhaps you can even help it? Or, if you choose, you could simply order your fleet to attack... after all, how much of a threat could a mere metal sphere be?



Stellarite
What can live inside a star?

What sort of being can withstand, and even thrive in, such immense heat and pressure?

What could be its purpose?

... what does it eat?



That's all for today! Next week we'll be talking about changes to the graphics and sound of Stellaris coming in the Heinlein update, as well as a teaser on the more than 20 minutes of new music by Andreas Waldetoft included in the Leviathans Story Pack.

I like that stuff. Exploration is the best feature of Stellaris.

[garbon]

I'm not sure I like paying for it yet.

Also the dragon one seems a bit overpowered - in that let's say you kill it and you have that resource non-habitable planet. Then you better still have the forces to defend that overpowered resource planet from others who could easily poach.

[Zanza]

I'll pay for it. I mean I even bought Reaper's Due (which isn't bad). 

[garbon]

Actually, I know I won't pay till it is on discount. They'd have to be offering a helluva lot more content for Stellaris before I'm likely to rush back.

[Alcibiades]

Definitely not paying for that.  Like HOI4, it'll probably be a good game in about 4 years after 8-10 DLCs.  Probably. 

[crazy canuck]

Definitely not paying for that.  Like HOI4, it'll probably be a good game in about 4 years after 8-10 DLCs.  Probably.

That is my view as well.  I was willing to pay for both games initially because I like the concepts so I will support them.  But in both cases the execution was poor.