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STELLARIS: New Paradox Game in SPAAAACE

Started by Syt, July 30, 2015, 10:12:50 AM

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Tonitrus

Cynical me sees that once again, the doomstack issue is kicked further down the road.

Darth Wagtaros

Still not seeing much difference in fleet combat. 
PDH!

Syt

I saw that the Star Trek mod has been updated to the latest patch. It's been a few years since I last tried it.

First went Federation United Earth. The appeal with playing UE is obviously that they're fleshed out the most - you get anomalies based on Trek episodes, and there's storylines integrated from the entire canon AFAIK.

But man, was I rusty (doesn't help that the mod renames, adds, or removes some tech, resources and buildings ... ). So playing on a 3000+ star map with 80+ Star Trek Empires, minors, and primitives was not a great idea, either.  Anyways, I get several events from Enterprise (Vulcans/Andorians, Tellarite shenanigans ...), and of course the Xindi probe shows up. I take it out before it reaches Earth, and then send the NX-01 with Jonathan Archer in search of the Xindi (it's a storyline that basically takes his ship off map and then presents events/decisions periodically). In the end, the climactic battle between the evil Xindi factions and Earth happens, and the Xindi kick my butt (despite the Andorians sending a ship to help - where were my federation friends? :P ). They wipe out the fleet, approach Earth ... and the game/mod crashed. :lol:

Started a new game as the Borg. Totally different. You start on a ring world the Unicomplex. You produce tons of materials (except alloys ... ), have a lot of research, and don't have to worry about diplomacy. One of the first decisions is whether to use "normal" star system names or use Borg designations, so all systems are now something like 049.352 etc. First contact assigns a species number and evaluates whether the species is worthy of assimilation (it can even assimilate some of them from the get go).

And assimilation is where things get silly. I neighbor the El-Aurians: https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/El-Aurian They're puny. So I attack, invade and start assimilating them. Every assimilated pop gives me 1000 unity, and 5000 research for each branch. :o My other neighbors are the Krenim who might be a juicy target in time ... :shifty:
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

Zanza

I think it is part of Stellaris' beauty that both play styles are also offered with own mechanisms in the standard game.

Syt

Yeah, I really appreciate Stellaris trying to include as many sci-fi concepts as possible. :)
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

Tamas

It would be even better if they resulted in meaningfully different gameplay in vanilla. :)

Zanza

What kind of difference do you expect?

A 'Determined Assimilator' has different content than a 'Federation Builder' in the game. Diplomacy plays differently, economy is a bit different, some tech and ascendancy/tradition stuff is different...

Now I agree that bigger differences would be nice, but saying there are no differences is not correct in my opinion.

Syt

Besides, Stellaris is more geared towards being an RP sandbox (much like CK3).
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

Syt

New story pack coming:

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/developer-diary/stellaris-dev-diary-282-announcing-first-contact.1564634/

QuoteLast week, we had A Message from Minamar Specialized Industries, and it's time to take them up on that offer. (And you deciphered the message in there even more quickly!)

I'm pleased to announce that the First Contact Story Pack will be released alongside the Stellaris 3.7 "Canis Minor" update. Click here to wishlist the Story Pack.

Look to the Stars, For You Are Not Alone�

For countless ages, your people have looked to the stars with wonder - is there anybody else out there? When we meet, will they be friends or enemies? Will we be the ones to discover them, or are they already here, hiding in plain sight?

The First Contact Story Pack focuses on the experiences of these Pre-FTL civilizations, both from the point of view of the civilizations themselves as well as from the observers. Observation has been revamped with new enhanced systems relating to civilization Awareness, Diplomacy, and Espionage. New Insights can be learned from observing civilizations that have not been corrupted by the galaxy as a whole.



The Universe Is Cruel, But Also Awe-Inspiring



Two Challenging Origins - Payback and Broken Shackles - revolve around the struggles of empires against the oppressive Minamar Specialized Industries, while a third standard Origin - Fear of the Dark - examines the fine line between paranoia and prudence. As befits a Story Pack, all three of First Contact's Origins are heavily narrative focused.



Several new low-technology civics can change the way you take your first steps to the stars or how you interact with the pre-FTL civilizations you find.





Nobody saw this coming in a Story Pack, but there's also Cloaking... We'll reveal more about that later.

This Thursday, we'll discuss the vision and themes of First Contact in greater detail.

See you then!
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

Zanza

Looking forward to it. New content is always welcome as exploration is the best part of Stellaris.

Syt

I wanted to play EU4, but decided, "let's start a quick game of Stellaris."

Started with a fanatic xenophile egalitarian democracy with beacon of liberty and diplo civics. I was lucky to start right next to a small federation of spiritual xenophiles who took me in, so I was left to expand in peace. Anyways, I'm the leader of the federation now, we've eradicated the Prikiti-Ti and one oft he marauder factions with ease. I've supported the independence of an empire who after breaking free submitted to me right away. So it's 2310, I own like 1/5 of the galaxy, and with vassals and federation it's 1/3 and I gear up for end game and fallen empires.

I started on Cadet, since it's the new recommended difficulty after recent patches (and I generally suck at the game), but I found it a bit easy - though I guess not starting surrounded by fanatic purifiers and driven assimilators helped. Praise RNGsus. :P

I agree having more exploration later in game would be good. You get a bit of that by uncovering more archeological sites etc. when clearing tile blockers. It might be better to have a similar mechanic for systems. If you roll a 600 star system galaxy, reveal only 400 at start and reveal the remaining ones through technology - either one by one (kind of how e.g. precursor systems are revealed) or at once. Or have "blockers" in space that you can only travel to once you have the required mid or late game techs - similar to how the L-Cluster works, and some obstacles like Leviathans serve a similar purpose. The main issue might be balance, because getting there first would give the Empire in question a big advantage.
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

Syt

Oh, and I ran into early space age Earth. I've not run into it much - is it normal for them to have a second ape-like pre-sentient species that's "star-born"? :unsure: They had a weird name Onek-something? I uplifted them into sentience after I infiltrated and annexed Earth.  :area52:
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

Zanza

Never seen that before. I have only found sentinent cockroaches on a tombworld Sol III.  :)

Darth Wagtaros

I played again. Still run into the same problem (not that it is limited to just Stellaris). By late game there is too much going on and too much micromanaging to really still have fun.  Even the crisis' are difficult to manage because once the federations form up suddenly there are dozens of fleets rampaging around doing fuck knows.  It certainly has an epic scope, but its kind of difficult.

The other issue is still with wars. I can occupy every world and flatten their mobile units, but then a war degenerates to playing wackamole with construction units while waiting for war weariness or hwatever to kick in and get a settlement. If Federations make it worse, because suddenly an enemy member far away from me with three systems is untouched and that makes it impossible to settle. Or I'm getting dragged into wars and have nothing to gain except my own war weariness.
PDH!

Zanza

Very interesting new DLC announcement by Paradox. Leaders were an underutilized mechanic so far.

QuoteThe Vision of Galactic Paragons

Amidst the great empires of the galaxy, there are luminaries who rise above the masses. They take on many forms: cunning rulers, ruthless warlords, devout prophets, bold explorers, and visionary scientists. These leaders leave indelible imprints on their empires, etching their names into the annals of history and the collective consciousness of the people they ruled.

The Galactic Paragons expansion focuses on these extraordinary individuals, seeking to capture the essence of their epochal reigns.

The Vision of Galactic Paragons

Amidst the great empires of the galaxy, there are luminaries who rise above the masses. They take on many forms: cunning rulers, ruthless warlords, devout prophets, bold explorers, and visionary scientists. These leaders leave indelible imprints on their empires, etching their names into the annals of history and the collective consciousness of the people they ruled.

The Galactic Paragons expansion focuses on these extraordinary individuals, seeking to capture the essence of their epochal reigns.

The Council

A new ruling council is introduced, where characters in the highest positions of your empire may take their place. Powerful traits have immense influence over all that lies within your empire's borders. And from here, you can unleash political agendas.

Legendary leaders

Out there in the void you may discover powerful paragons. These may seek to join your empire depending on your ethics. Here, may be approached by greedy governors who grovel in the dust, cunning spymasters, prophets who disseminate knowledge of the Shroud and so on. But as you explore the galaxy you may also encounter truly legendary beings that may change the core of your empire.

And then the rest...

There will be a new origin, several new civics, tradition trees, agendas, council positions and much more.