Stellaris Game Thread

[MrBug708]

How do you set sections?

[NobodyHere]

There's a "Create New Sector" Button on top right of the Empire panel.

[Brian Swartz]

I really, really like the sector mechanic in theory. In practice? Too soon to tell. I play slowly, so I'm just getting to the point in my positively weird-starting 'test game' where I'm about to need to make my first one. Sixth planet is getting the colony set up now so ... I'm about to start figuring it out.

[spleen1015]

From what I am reading about Sectors on the official forums, the AI doesn't do a very good job controlling them.

Looks like they are fairly necessary which kind of sucks.

It seems they put them in for multiplayer considering once you get to the point of having 50 planets it will be hard to manage.

Hopefully they make it an option for single player.

[Thomkal]

first hotfix for Stellaris:

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...orts.928210%2F

[spleen1015]

You guys probably already know this if you are familiar with Paradox games.

You can only earn achievements by playing Ironman mode.

[Lonnie]

I wish they had more almost human species. They are probably saving that for DLC.

[Neon_Chaos]

Question for guys who have been playing through mid-game: How many pops do you usually maintain before the research penalty gets too high and research starts to bog down?

[lungs]

Originally Posted by Lonnie

I wish they had more almost human species. They are probably saving that for DLC.

+1

Otherwise the game has sucked me in. I'm about 20 years into my United Nations of Earth game. It was pretty easy for me to pick up, I guess having played a lot of EU and Victoria helps.

Diplomacy does seem a little bland, first race I met up with was friendly, established an embassy, made an alliance. Second race I met up with was basically like, "Hi, I don't like you" and we haven't spoken since, despite now sharing a large border.

Currently trying to make friends with a further away race that I need to go do some research missions in their space but they don't let me in.

Built up a nice energy and mineral surplus. Influence seems to be the one I have trouble banking. Took out a frontier outpost for more influence and proceeded to have my border shift back, losing a 6 mineral system I had put mining stations in. Try to build another frontier outpost further out, and I don't have enough influence points.

[Brian Swartz]

I really hope that, if the AI is bad with the Sectors, that they improve that instead of getting rid of the sectors. I think they are a really important gameplay thing, not just to cut down on micro but just from the sensible standpoint of controlling every aspect of all planets is like the president setting zoning laws for Peoria. It's just not going to happen.

So far it does seem that my favorite parts about the game are things a lot of people don't like -- the naval combat, the sectors thing, the fact that frontier outposts cost considerable influence(can't tell you how happy I am that you pay a big price for spamming the things which is exactly how it should be). I'd rather have PDX work on bugs/AI aggressiveness/improving trade & diplo.

Originally Posted by lungs

seems to be the one I have trouble banking. Took out a frontier outpost for more influence and proceeded to have my border shift back, losing a 6 mineral system I had put mining stations in. Try to build another frontier outpost further out, and I don't have enough influence points.

Yep. I've already taken down two of mine. I have a good ally, which basically means I don't have enough influence to have more than one or two frontier outposts. These are the decisions I really enjoy.

[lungs]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

Yep. I've already taken down two of mine. I have a good ally, which basically means I don't have enough influence to have more than one or two frontier outposts. These are the decisions I really enjoy.

If I establish a colony near a frontier outpost, would it make sense to take the outpost down?

[Brian Swartz]

Yes, definitely. Particularly if you can't colonize a system but intend to do so later, for example if you don't have the technology to colonize a planet or need a larger resource base to support it, this a good way to expand.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Publisher Defends Negative IGN Review Of Their Game, Shoots Down 'Supposed Conspiracy'

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Publisher Defends Negative IGN Review Of Their Game, Shoots Down 'Supposed Conspiracy'

Just so everyone remembers, it was IGN who awarded MoO3 a 9.2/10

[SirFozzie]

Also, IGN US was the one who gave a version of Football Manager a 2.0 a few years ago because it wasn't FIFA or PES.]

[Vince, Pt. II]

So it took me a long while to realize I would need to send in ground troops to conquer an opponent planet once I finally declared war. I didn't want to fight them, but they were extraordinarily weak and refused to even offer civilian ship passage for science missions due to ethics choices.

How do I go about eliminating their influence? I've vassalized them and taken control of two colonies, but it's still their space, keeping me from being able to colonize the super juicy system right on their side of our border.

[MizzouRah]

Who cares about IGN.. Stellaris had record sales and overwhelmingly positive reviews on Steam as well as many glowing reviews from other sites. I doubt Paradox gives a hoot about IGN's score.

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

Just so everyone remembers, it was IGN who awarded MoO3 a 9.2/10

And an 8.8 to TW Rome 2. It's debatable which is worse.

Originally Posted by Vince

I've vassalized them and taken control of two colonies, but it's still their space, keeping me from being able to colonize the super juicy system right on their side of our border.

There are tech options to expand your 'border push', but who knows when you'll draw those. If possible, built a frontier outpost just inside your borders to give you more push. Aside from that, war is the only way that I know of. Bite the bullet and just conquer them if the planet is worth that much to you.

[lighthousekeeper]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Who cares about IGN

IGN is still very influential

(assuming the year is currently 2004)

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by lighthousekeeper

IGN is still very influential

(assuming the year is currently 2004)

[dzilla77]

Originally Posted by Abe Sargent

Well there goes my Alzar dynasty

YOu just need to send Alaz to Space.

[Brian Swartz]

Just looked at the victory page for the first time in a while. Got a bit of a chuckle. I'm 36 game years in.

Domination -- 40% of the galaxy owned. Actually have a bit of progress on the bar so I mouse over it. "You have 7 of the 333 planets required!" Um, not too encouraging there.

Conquest -- Conquer or subjugate all other empires. There are 30 of them left. About 20 years ago there were 29. So that's actually going the wrong way, I think due to new races reaching the FTL stage as I've seen one nearby, but not bordering empire get conquered already.

Originally Posted by dzilla7

YOu just need to send Alaz to Space.

Exactly! There's already a mod for a race of Kerbals. And probably others. Won't be too long before we're throwing all of the Mass Effect, Star Trek, Star Wars, etc. races together in one galaxy.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

Bite the bullet and just conquer them if the planet is worth that much to you.

That's the thing, I obliterated their defenses and rolled in 6 assault armies, conquered...and it stayed their territory. Is that because I made them my vassal?

[Brian Swartz]

Yes it is. If you want to control the planet, you want the Cede Planet wargoal. By agreeing to make them your vassal, you are allowing them sovereignty over their territory, but they have to fight with you in any wars you wage, which they have no control over(as opposed to an ally, who has to agree to the war).

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Who cares about IGN.. Stellaris had record sales and overwhelmingly positive reviews on Steam as well as many glowing reviews from other sites. I doubt Paradox gives a hoot about IGN's score.

LOL. Someone didn't read the article. It had nothing to do with the average score.

[Abe Sargent]

Alright played a few hours last night to get up to speed, and now it's time to create a non-human race and get to it. I'm teh spider people in the upgraded version of the game with Enduring and Strong, Fanatic Xenophile and Pacifist. We like you! You don't suck! Come fight for the Chittering Confederation!

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

Yes it is. If you want to control the planet, you want the Cede Planet wargoal. By agreeing to make them your vassal, you are allowing them sovereignty over their territory, but they have to fight with you in any wars you wage, which they have no control over(as opposed to an ally, who has to agree to the war).

So out of curiosity, do we know how they determine which planets are available to be ceded when I declare war? I wanted three systems of theirs - two for science purposes, one for colonization - but the colonization system was not an option for me.

[Brian Swartz]

I don't know for sure. My operating assumption for now is that it's all of them that you can choose from -- I know that's the case in terms of a small empire. For larger ones maybe it's those within a certain distance of your border? Haven't really gotten into that yet.

[bhlloy]

I think I hate sectors. It sucks to finally be getting shit together and to be able to colonize multiple planet types, and you are artificially limited to not actually be able to manage anything yourself. I just lost interest in a game because even if I expand much more it feels like I'm just sinking credits into bad sectors.

Hopefully it's not long until people are either able to mod the limit or get rid of it altogether.

[Abe Sargent]

Damn I just unlocked Titanic Beast infantry - these things are nasty

[Brian Swartz]

It wouldn't be hard to mod out sectors -- worst-case scenario would be a tech that you give everyone at the beginning that gives them +5000 core planets or whatever. It's like the demesne in one of the other Paradox games though -- I really don't think most people want to go through dozens or hundreds of planets all the time and change things. Maybe I underestimate the desire to micro.

Originally Posted by bhlloy

. I just lost interest in a game because even if I expand much more it feels like I'm just sinking credits into bad sectors.

I'd like to more about this. Maybe I can help you with it, or maybe you can help me understand your perspective on it. I have a couple of recently colonized planets with a few pops each now that I have put into a sector, and so far they are doing fine. I would do a few things differently but what the AI has done has been very reasonable. They are self-sufficient with minimal mineral investment from me at the start -- I'm curious why you think you have to sink credits into them?

To me, if the sector AI is bad then what needs to happen is improve the AI.

/rant

[SirFozzie]

it's a minor tweak in one of the files.

[Thomkal]

secomd patch out this morning:

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...eports.929477/

[MrBug708]

How do you gain more influence?

[lungs]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

How do you gain more influence?

Not sure how it works with other types of government but with the United Nations of Earth, when a new president is elected they set a mandate to build stuff (usually four research stations) where if you fulfill the mandate you get a nice influence boost (can't remember exactly how much it is)

[Abe Sargent]

It's a random bonus, something like 50-150 or so if I recall.

Here are techs you can get to bump for FLu as wel

And you can name folks as your rival, that pumps it up

[Shoveler]

I have not played any of the previous paradox games, so is this game overly complicated to play and understand what is going on? I'm very tempted to pick it up as I'm a sucker for sci-fi space games. However, I am worried that the scope of the game may get so large that I would eventually get overwhelmed by everything you have to do... sort of torn on whether to pull the trigger or not at this point.

Also, I have to play in bursts rather than long play sessions. Do you have to commit a lot of what you are doing to memory or is it fairly easy to keep track of what you are doing inside a large empire?

[Uncle Briggs]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

So out of curiosity, do we know how they determine which planets are available to be ceded when I declare war? I wanted three systems of theirs - two for science purposes, one for colonization - but the colonization system was not an option for me.

I think wargoals can only be colonies, not empty systems. So you have to try and guess which one puts the empty system you want in your borders.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

I think I hate sectors. It sucks to finally be getting shit together and to be able to colonize multiple planet types, and you are artificially limited to not actually be able to manage anything yourself. I just lost interest in a game because even if I expand much more it feels like I'm just sinking credits into bad sectors.

Hopefully it's not long until people are either able to mod the limit or get rid of it altogether.

I think the real problem is with the AI, as has been mentioned. The other bummer is that they force you to start with sectors fairly early - before micro-management becomes an issue - so it feels like an artificial handicap in the early game.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Also, as a caveat, I only just developed my first sector, and cannot tell how inefficient it will be yet.

[MizzouRah]

I'm really going slow.. just making sure I tend to all my duties.

[Peregrine]

Can you ever trade with fallen empires? I started a new game and in my area it's just me and a big ol' FE. Fortunately they like me since we have the same ethos but seems like all its trade options I tried are -1000.

[bhlloy]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

I think the real problem is with the AI, as has been mentioned. The other bummer is that they force you to start with sectors fairly early - before micro-management becomes an issue - so it feels like an artificial handicap in the early game.

Yeah, I'd agree with both of these comments. To answer Brian's question above, I have a sector with 2 planets, 4 pops and a a decent number of systems with resources/mines running a -4 (think it was -6 at first) energy credit deficit. And there's nothing I can do about it except keep shoveling in credits and hope they are building things that will eventually turn that around. To have that happen with a feature that was essentially forced on me because of game design decision is just dumb.

I don't disagree there should be some penalty for having 30 planets, but making it 5 when the game is just starting to get good is horrible. I never would have stuck with CK or EU if I'd have been forced to detach and vassalize any regions over 5. Or imagine Civ where you aren't allowed to manage more than 5 cities. Just a bad game decision that is hugely limiting, in my humble opinion.

[bhlloy]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

Can you ever trade with fallen empires? I started a new game and in my area it's just me and a big ol' FE. Fortunately they like me since we have the same ethos but seems like all its trade options I tried are -1000.

Yeah, the Fallen Empires are interesting to me too. I'm sure they probably have end of game events or event chains that justify their existence, but not having got there yet they just feel like a giant limiting blob that is far too powerful for you to do anything with.

[Brian Swartz]

I'm going to be looking into doing some modding, but thought I'd leave some feedback for everyone to consider on some things I've found related to the AI.

** It does some things well. Leaders are assigned appropriately, and I think it is forming sectors quite intelligently(not talking about how the sector AI itself works, but how they are formed on the empire level). They are developing their planets with appropriate buildings on the right tiles in general, and they do upgrade them(though not as fast as they should in some cases).

** They keep larger reserves of minerals than I'd like, but they are using them. It's been rare for me to see them getting close to the cap.

** They use frontier outposts but not often enough, and rarely use edicts. Empires that get blocked in sit on tons and tons of influence.

** Energy is the big one. They simply won't abide not having a small(at least) energy surplus. Ever. For any reason. Every AI empire sits on max energy credits and will still deactivate buildings/refuse to upgrade them if it gets too close to 'break-even' for its monthly energy income. I'm seriously considering just removing all maintenance for planetary buildings just because it is having such a big impact here.

The AI should be able to be made a lot more competitive, so I'm hopeful it'll happen. The sectors thing looks like it's going to get some early changes, though too early to know what exactly. I'm still super-hyped, I'm just transitioning into the 'ok, how do we smooth over the rough spots and make this work better' mentality. Changing the core planet limit is where a lot of people are starting.

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

don't disagree there should be some penalty for having 30 planets, but making it 5 when the game is just starting to get good is horrible. I never would have stuck with CK or EU if I'd have been forced to detach and vassalize any regions over 5. Or imagine Civ where you aren't allowed to manage more than 5 cities. Just a bad game decision that is hugely limiting, in my humble opinion.

I can get on board with this. I think it's a good idea with decidedly subpar implementation. I'm going to look at ways to have you start small(maybe even smaller than 5), but have the number grow as you expand. That way you aren't just stuck with a small number forever, you can increase your core but have to decide what systems are going to be part of that core and what ones are part of the outlying territories.

[bhlloy]

Out of interest Brian do you mod for any of the other paradox games?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

Or imagine Civ where you aren't allowed to manage more than 5 cities. Just a bad game decision that is hugely limiting, in my humble opinion.

This was pretty much my reaction to it. I'm fairly unlikely to ever play the game anyway, not into a computer upgrade any time soon (and everything here is pretty ancient) but this would pretty much be a deal breaker for me. That's just a ridiculously low number.

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

Out of interest Brian do you mod for any of the other paradox games?

Nope. Crusader Kings interested me but a lot of the terminology I never really got past. Didn't put a whole lot of effort in it to be honest. Many years ago I did some modding for MOO3. Badly, I might add. I've learned a lot since then, mostly about the need to pay close attention to how the AI reacts to changes you make, and not just change something for change's sake. I've done some stuff for sports sims I've played(FBCB, DDSCB, etc.) to set up certain scenarios but all really pretty basic stuff there.

I love the futuristic sci-fi environment. I was all set to jump all over MOO IV, but having seen both games I laugh at it now. We'll see what can be made of Stellaris.

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by Shoveler

I have not played any of the previous paradox games, so is this game overly complicated to play and understand what is going on? I'm very tempted to pick it up as I'm a sucker for sci-fi space games. However, I am worried that the scope of the game may get so large that I would eventually get overwhelmed by everything you have to do... sort of torn on whether to pull the trigger or not at this point.

Also, I have to play in bursts rather than long play sessions. Do you have to commit a lot of what you are doing to memory or is it fairly easy to keep track of what you are doing inside a large empire?

I suggest watching YouTube videos. You will learn the game a lot that way.

I don't have a lot of experience with other PI games, but I don't think this one has a large learning curve.