STELLARIS: New Paradox Game in SPAAAACE

[garbon]

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/stellaris-dev-diary-111-anomaly-rework-expanded-exploration.1090092/

Sounds better particularly getting rid of that indeed boring anomaly fail risk and instead using level to determine length of time to investigate.

Also, much more strategically setup hyperlanes.

[Scipio]

What the essential version of this game? It's all on sale on Steam, is why I ask.

[ulmont]

What the essential version of this game? It's all on sale on Steam, is why I ask.

Base game plus Leviathans and Utopia expansions, although I say get all the expansions (so also Apocalypse and Synthetic Dawn).

[grumbler]

Got this on the Steam summer sale, and finally got around to playing it (bog-standard human start).  I tend to agree with the thrust of the arguments above:  it is an interesting game, but ultimately unsatisfying.  Pirates were ludicrous:  even before alien contact, I was encountering human pirates with technologies vastly superior to those available to the human race, and in numbers far greater than the human race as a whole could support.  How can a game designer do this and hope to retain a shred of suspension of disbelief?

The technology/research system seemed to me to be the worst feature of the game.  About half the technology decisions I made, especially in the early game, were just blind pick'ems.  Descriptions didn't tell me nearly enough to make me confident that I knew what was going to result, and there was no tech tree, no possibility of specialization, and generally no fun.

Planet and system development seemed petty straightforward, and I liked the sector concept a lot.  It allowed me to focus on more fun things than what building to add to a planet, and the balance between sector and empire use of resources was one I had to keep an eye on, as I should in my pretend role.

Combat was... meh.  AI ship design was substandard, but the AI could build huge fleets, so there was a lot of tension there.  I found it faster and only slightly more expensive to just scrap ships and build new ones where I wanted them than trying to send ships any distance across my empire.  The fleet system screwed up frequently, creating situations where i had to go back and manually adjust the fleet compositions in the fleet manager as the fleets frequently "forgot" that they already had the 8 corvettes they were supposed to have, and demanded 8 more.  I liked the idea of what they were trying to do with fleets, but the execution was awful.  I discovered I could punch above my weight by building only cruisers and torpedo-armed corvettes.  I researched battleships (which took a lot of research) and discovered that building them was dumb, so the research would have been a lot better-placed improving the other ships types and weapons.

Music was great, though; one of the best game soundtracks I have heard.

[garbon]

Now coming to consoles, most curious.

Also, really liking the latest release of the Star Trek mod.

[crazy canuck]

Now coming to consoles, most curious.

Too few people playing games on computers these days?

[Razgovory]

Stellaris (and almost all Paradox games) are RTS, a genre that just doesn't translate well to consoles.  You really need a mouse.

[Agelastus]

So, the enigmatic cache (the tube that wanders around scanning everybody and, I previously thought, doing nothing else) re-appeared over my capital in game year 2438 to offer to "uplift" me.

I browsed online for more information and came across the interesting piece of information that this cache offers to uplift the weakest empire in the game. Allegedly, anyway.

.
..
...

I am in fact, the strongest of the "younger Races".

I am also the only "Younger Race" not involved as a thrall, signatory, or member of the non-aligned league in the War in Heaven that broke out a decade or so ago in game time. I'm just having fun sniping around the edges of the conflict (doing a smash and grab against the weaker awakened empire and one of it's signatories to get dark matter technology, for example.)

But, anyway, as I am "all alone in the night", I apparently register as the weakest empire for the cache. 

[Josquius]

Now coming to consoles, most curious.

Too few people playing games on computers these days?

Can you use a mouse with the ps4 and sex box?

I guess on switch it could work.

[Zanza]

I quite like what I saw so far from the newest DLC "Megacorp", which was released yesterday. They completely reworked the economy. While exploration (until you research a certain tech) and especially building stations is still a click-fest, the planet management has become more interesting and varied. Haven't really tried the new megacorporation specific features.

[Grey Fox]

Now coming to consoles, most curious.

Too few people playing games on computers these days?

Can you use a mouse with the ps4 and sex box?

I guess on switch it could work.

The People making the console of Cities Skyline have nice controller implementation. I expect it will be the same for this one.

[Richard Hakluyt]

I'm enjoying the planeatary management, much more engaging than the tile system.

Unfortunately the new trade route system involves micromanagement of corvette patrols to suppress piracy 

[Syt]

I'm enjoying the planeatary management, much more engaging than the tile system.

Unfortunately the new trade route system involves micromanagement of corvette patrols to suppress piracy 

You can set them on patrol duty. Alternatively, you can add hangars(?) to space stations, which spreads the pirate protection, too.

[Syt]

Thing of note: when you build more jobs than you have people on a planet, people will gravitate to the "better" jobs and abandon resource operations.

However, you can lower the available jobs in the buildings part if you look at the pops.

I was starting to run an energy deficit, so I fired my soldier and one of my clerks to force them go work the energy generators.

[crazy canuck]

Interesting design choice to include districts as part of the control cap.  Harder to build tall now?