Stellaris

[Geoff]

Stellaris on Steam

It's a top down grand strategy game. If you've come across Crusader Kings or Europa Universalis you'll be at home.

 

Here's the pre-order trailer:

 

 

Here's Quill18's first impressions:

 

 

After watching a few youtubers play this on Sunday I decided to buy it just before it came out so I could grab the pre-order bonus. I went for the middle 'nova' tier package that gets me all the DLC without the fluff. Installed it and played it last night and suffered from the 'I'll just play a little bit more' and then it was 1am ffs. Also contains the stock Paradox humor:

 

Edited May 10, 2016 by Geoff

[DalekSec]

Did see this on steam briefly on steam last night, would of got it but recently brought overwatch :/

[localzuk]

I bought this yesterday too. Got 25% discount on it. I quite like it so far. Played a couple of hours. Seems like its a good game, especially as they have built in modding support from the beginning!

[Geoff]

Paradox games are massively modable (eg, someone modded Game of Thrones into Crusader Kings 2). They also release a steady stream of dlc that not only add extra content but major new games systems.

[Geoff]

Accidentally caused X-Com.

 

 

Oh Hotfix 1.01 is out, fixing some CTDs and wormhole pathing problems.

 

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/hotfix-1-0-1-released-checksum-4d15-not-for-problem-reports.928210/

[ICTDirect_Dave]

I very nearly bought this a couple of days ago. Going to have to get it now

 

Does anybody else think they missed a treat with their Cat people? Surely a perfect chance to play as the Thundercats!

[localzuk]

Played a few more hours last night. Found a couple of alien races and now have an embassy with them both. I'm not attacking anyone until I've researched up my weaponry a bit!

[Geoff]

You can create custom races, so make your own Thundercats. DLC and 3rd Party Mods will be forthcoming to add even more options. Expect Star Trek / Star Wars / WH40k / Babylon 5 / Stargate / etc total conversions in the fullness of time. It's got steam workshop support so keep an eye on what's hot in there.

 

https://steamcommunity.com/app/281990/workshop/

[Lonix]

Not enjoyed a game like this since Imperium Galactica 2 (this is by far one of my top 20 games).

 

I got Orion recently and enjoyed the Pre-Release, I just don't enjoy the turn base so much. I prefer real time with the ability to speed up/pause/slow down AKA - Imperium Galactica 2. Although it's now very dated......

 

Downloaded Stellaris and not had the chance to play it yet.. I am hoping this is a good game.

[Sagima]

I very nearly bought this a couple of days ago. Going to have to get it now

 

Does anybody else think they missed a treat with their Cat people? Surely a perfect chance to play as the Thundercats!

 

I agree! - if only I knew someone who could mod them in

[Duranis]

.... 3rd Party Mods will be forthcoming to add even more options. Expect ..... Babylon 5 ... total conversions ...

 

I never realised how much I wanted this until you just put the idea in my head!

 

I really like the look of this game. I have tried a few 4x games in the past and while I enjoy them I never really got into them properly because the learning curve and lack of in game help was too much. Looks like this game does a better job of guiding you through the early stages and telling you what is what.

[Geoff]

I have tried a few 4x games in the past and while I enjoy them I never really got into them properly because the learning curve and lack of in game help was too much. Looks like this game does a better job of guiding you through the early stages and telling you what is what.

 

If you only knew what some of the other Paradox games are like. The irony is off the charts.

[Boredguy]

I never realised how much I wanted this until you just put the idea in my head!

 

I really like the look of this game. I have tried a few 4x games in the past and while I enjoy them I never really got into them properly because the learning curve and lack of in game help was too much. Looks like this game does a better job of guiding you through the early stages and telling you what is what.

 

Do you really want a B5 conversion... you'd never know when the Shadows or their minions might pop back up after you thought you'd run them off.

[Geoff]

Highlight for spoiler:

 

One of the late game events is the 'unbidden' they are very similar to the Shadows in B5.

[Sagima]

Highlight for spoiler:

 

One of the late game events is the 'unbidden' they are very similar to the Shadows in B5.

 

Except when it gets emailed to me its in plain text for me to read ;(

[Geoff]

Blame @ZeroHour for not telling the forum how [spolier] tags work.

 

Anyway, this just happened:

 

http://i.imgur.com/8PNUjy2.png

[ICTDirect_Dave]

Except when it gets emailed to me its in plain text for me to read ;(

 

Yeah i read the email. Still, cool concept everybody loves those guys!

[localzuk]

Engaged in my first space battles last night. Some drones vs my fleet. Was a quick and decisive victory.

 

Then 2 of my science ships went AWOL for a while after trying to get into a new alien species space. Won't be attacking those aliens for a while though, as they're "overwhelming" in strength.

 

Been focusing on research which increases influence gain too, as its so slow to build up!

[Duranis]

I picked this up last night and played for much longer than I should have I don't expect to do great on my first run through but so far it has been a lot of fun. Concentrating on maxing my mineral production at the moment but have hit a snag in expansion as there are no inhabitable worlds within my borders and I don't have enough influence resources to build another outpost.

 

Trying to build more in the systems I have to push the borders out but it is slow going. Next time I will be more careful with where I place that first outpost

[Geoff]

Been focusing on research which increases influence gain too, as its so slow to build up!

 

Declare someone a rival, you'll get a steady influence income from that.

Make sure you upgrade your colony HQs as I found I was bleeding influence until I did this.

 

Next time I will be more careful with where I place that first outpost

 

I wish there was a bit more feedback from the game when placing and removing outposts. It's impossible to work out what effect it will have at the moment. I lost a load of mines when I removed an outpost I thought had been made obsolete by surrounding colonies.

[ICTDirect_Dave]

Spent half an hour on this over lunch today.

 

Surveyed home system, sent a ship to survey a neighbouring system and built a few mining platforms. Oh and I found some kind of alien race that acts like a nomadic herd, grazing on gas giants.

 

A good start i'd say.

[Duranis]

I wish there was a bit more feedback from the game when placing and removing outposts. It's impossible to work out what effect it will have at the moment. I lost a load of mines when I removed an outpost I thought had been made obsolete by surrounding colonies.

 

Yeah the way borders/empire area is worked out isnt how i expected it to be. I don't think it is a fixed "object X adds Y amount of border around it". It seems that different objects add a different border value which is then all pooled together to work out where your borders are within X distance of that object. Kind of like if you have a puddle of liquid, as you add more it expands outwards and as you take it away the edges contract.

[Geoff]

Hotfix 1.0.2 released:

 

The second Hotfix for Stellaris should go live any minute now!

 

This Hotfix contains:

- Fixed exploits in species customization which allowed players ignore limits to trait and ethic points etc.

- Improved performance for war demands view

- 'Hostile fleet detected' is now only shown when the fleet is heading towards one of your colonized systems, preventing massive spam in large wars.

- UI fixes in server browser

- It is now possible to connect directly to a server id

- Fixed CTD when renaming sectors

- Fixed CTD when fleets were traveling too far away from the galaxy center

- Fixed CTD when a country was destroyed as a result of combat

- Fixed CTD caused by ships shooting at ships that are not visible

- Fixed an issue where you could not build space ports with some screen resolutions

- It is no longer possible to build robot pops on uncolonized planets

- Game pads are now turned off by default as this caused stuttering on some configurations. Game pads can be enabled again with the -gamepad launch option or the "gamepad" console command

 

We are aware of an issue where join game via the steam friends menu won't work if the game is password protected. This is still an issue but you should be able to bypass it with the Direct Join button. The host can see the server ID either in the multiplayer lobby or, if the game has started, in the tooltip for the date in the top right.

[Geoff]

Nailed it.

 

[localzuk]

I think I've messed up. I declared a race a rival, and they appear to have tech'ed up a lot quicker than I have, so they have gone from equals to being overwhelmingly stronger. They've then formed an alliance with both the other races blocking my way along the spiral arm of the galaxy... So, I find myself trapped!