Stellaris

[Redirect Left]

Stellaris is massively lacking in Trade, but that will surely be a DLC. I'd quite like a DLC that goes in-depth and lets you play a pre-space age civilization.

Well. I was about to post and ask if Stellaris is worth the AAA game price of £34.99, but it seems I should probably wait until (hopefully free for that price) DLC arrives then?
The trailers make it look pretty good though, just lacking from some of the posts here.

[Chrill]

They will pump out DLCs, usually at around €10-15 a piece. With every DLC, some functionality is included in a free patch but the vital functions are in the DLC. For Europa Universalis IV, I own maybe 3-4 DLCs but have not bought the last 2-3. They release maybe two per year.

I'd still recommend buying the game if you're into 4X or Grand Strategy. It's a good game, it's maybe a 7 or 8/10 at the moment. It's got the potential to get close to 10 though.

[Pyoro]

So I've started another game with hyperdrives only (aka you can only explore the galaxy in pre-defined paths), in a 4-armed huge galaxy. Makes for an interesting game; quite a bit different than free-exploring warp-game.

Starting position was crazy lucky:

stellaris_01.png (420.66 KiB) Viewed 2031 times

Sol obviously has Earth, Alpha Centaury has 3(!) continental worlds, Procyon a Gaia world and Sirius and Kimithar each a continental world, too. So basically I've got a 1000-stars galaxy and within 1 jump I've got too many planets to govern personally. A bit ridiculous. ^^

stellaris_02.png (432.85 KiB) Viewed 2031 times

And the current map. Obviously with the pre-defined paths and in a spiral galaxy you basically have no choice but to beat up the guy next to you; it's not like you can go around them gg.
The "North" is a bit problematic, as the guys on both sides are allied. Those two relatively big guys in the outer spiral were just at war with each other, but I was busy enslaving some fanatic xenophobs. Not sure who I'll go after next. ^^

€: great, now my fleet got stuck on the wrong sides of the border. Or at least about 5000 out of 6000 military power. At least I'm dangerous on paper. ^^

[Pyoro]

So here's what we can MAYBE expect for the next two big, free updates:

Thus, this is currently the plan for “Asimov”, but it’s not set in stone yet, so please bear with us if something gets pushed or altered:

"ASIMOV" HIGHLIGHTS (NOT SET IN STONE!)
Border Access Revision: Borders are now open to your ships by default, although empires can choose to Close their borders for another empire (lowering your relations, of course.)
Tributaries: New diplomatic status and corresponding war goals.
Joint Declarations of War: You can ask other empires to join you for a temporary alliance in a war against a specific target.
Defensive Pacts.
Harder to form and maintain proper Alliances.
More war goals: Humiliate, Open Borders, Make Tributary, etc.
Emancipation Faction. We had to cut this one at the last minute. Needs redesign.
Diplomatic Map Mode. Much requested!
Diplomatic Incidents: This is a whole class of new scripted events that causes more interaction with the other empires.
Past “Asimov”, I can’t give you any kind of specifics yet, but I am currently leaning towards honing in on the following general areas for the “Heinlein” update (these are not promises!):

CURRENT "HEINLEIN" INTENTIONS
Sector and Faction Politics: We are working on a design for this. I always wanted to make Factions more closely tied to Sectors, for example...
Federation and Alliance Politics: As a player, you need more ways of interacting with the other members, push your will through, and get elected, etc.
Giving Directions to Allies and Subject States.
Strategic Resource Overhaul: You should need these and search for them far and wide. They should be extremely important.
Battleship Class Weapons. Some Battleship front sections will be repurposed for an XL size weapon slot. There are currently four ship sizes but only three sizes to weapons, creating an imbalance. Also, Battleships should have fewer small weapon slots and have to rely on screens of smaller ships.
Fleet Combat Mechanics: Formations and/or more complex ship behavior is needed.
Mid-game scripted content: Guarded “treasures”, mid-game crises, colony events, etc.
Living Solar Systems: Little civilian ships moving around, etc.

Obviously whether those happen or not this way isn't yet entirely clear yet, but it seems that they are at least aware of most of the major concerns I have, so I like that so far.

[Solanus612]

Sorry to necro this thread, but...

I've recently been playing Stellaris since it came out last Monday, and it definitely has gotten the juices flowing on the simulation idea I proposed a while back. Some of the bigger brainstorm starters are the multitudes of alien races and empires, FTL technologies, and crossing borders to trade goods. Getting the galaxy built out to a point where most of the systems have been laid claim to and the various races and governments are close to the same level of technology, to ensure balance while diversifying play styles, would be key. Do you play as one race and stay within their borders (perhaps even within one system) or find ways to trade goods between cultures (maybe having different ship, station, and planetary configurations to adapt to)?

[Leanden]

You know theres already a stellaris thread active right which would have prevented this supernecro?

[Chrill]

*** I have merged your posts with the Stellaris thread ***

[Chrill]

Do you play as one race and stay within their borders (perhaps even within one system) or find ways to trade goods between cultures (maybe having different ship, station, and planetary configurations to adapt to)?

How could I do anything other than play as one race? After a while, with invasion and the like, you do get pops from other species but my primary species is still the one I "am". I haven't yet progressed so far that I have non-primaries as leaders, or better yet Synthetics.

[Pyoro]

What's there to trade in Stellaris? Special resources? ^^;

I know they plan to improve the economy, but right now it's a map painter.

Here's my current progress:

stellaris_03.png

(1.56 MiB) Not downloaded yet

Orassian Shard are a Fallen Empire (military isolationists).
Everyone "normal" but the Vissari are "inferior" or worse, and everyone(!) is currently at war with someone
I suspect the AI has a similar problem as I do; I'm occupy 100% of the planets of a partner of an alliance, but there's nothing I can do to reach the other alliance members.

So I have to conquer my way there. Which means declaring war on other alliances that have allies I can't reach. ^^

Technically I should probably consolidate a bit (more planets = more research points needed, so conquering and colonizing too fast leads to tech problems) but that'd probably be too boring. ^^

[Solanus612]

What's there to trade in Stellaris? Special resources? ^^;

I know they plan to improve the economy, but right now it's a map painter.

That post is out of context for this thread, as it was moved from another thread - I've since added a link in the post pointing to the old thread where it had been made originally. That thread covered an idea for a space-based transport game - with the new Stellaris game out, I thought some elements of that game could also be applied to the idea. The post is not intended to represent anything actually going on mechanically within Stellaris.

[Pyoro]

Ah, yes, re-reading your post and with the link it's clearer now. Sorry. I'm a bit off, I have to admit ^^;

On a side note, Distant Galaxies has a VERY complex economy. So if you're more into the whole eco aspect of space-simulations that's the better game to get (it's still a military game obviously but there's a private sector that runs its own ships and stuff).