I would recommend you check out CKII, you can play it pretty much all politicking (though war does happen). Of course it does have the benefit of 5 years of dlc and patches. It is harder to get into than Stellaris, so I would recommend looking up some videos/streams of people playing to get a better handle on everything.
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Yes CKII is one of those few games that left you with stories to tell. Is hard to get into for its obscure mechanics, but can be extremely rewarding.
huh, yeah I was noticing that I just was not able to get anybody into a federation with me. Which was kind of bumming me out because I totally want to do the thing.
Thanks for your advice, folks! Iāve only played about four hours so far and scrapped my first two because they went terribly wrong, but Iām for the most part loving it. My species are xenophilic/pacifist/spiritualist, which I enjoy if only because Iām the kind of person who feels cruel playing warmongers. What combos do you all enjoy playing?
As a side note, my choice of plant-based names is also giving me some very, very good stuff:
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Nearing the end of my xenophobe/fanatic pacifist run, getting unity out the wazoo, the +200 fleet size unlock has pushed that up to about 900 all up and my fleet is facestomping everything, kinetic batteries and gigacannons all day.
The game still needs a lot more mid-game fleshing out.
Right now Iām playing a egalitarian/militarist/materialist megacorp, doing pretty well with that, but my go to is either authoritarian/fan. militarist, or fan. authoritarian/militarist.
Is anybody else just the worst at naming things? I just draw blanks and either name planets/people the default or something really obvious and dull.
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Yes I droped every pretense to name things myself, otherwise I stare at the screen for a minute every two minutes.
Iām wondering if anyone else is like me with this game; in that I role-play the shit out of it in a way I canāt with other games.
No matter what great head-canon I make up for my Courier in New Vegas, I always end up choosing whatever is most mechanically interesting or what storyline I like best, regardless of who my character is. But in Stellaris, I will often actively make what are strategically poor choices just because thatās what my species would choose to do. Iām not entirely sure what makes the engines for role-playing click with me in this game that it doesnāt in others, but in this game I legitimately enjoy losing. Thereās something just poetically satisfying about my militaristic hive mind losing out to an alliance of like-minded aliens, or my pacifist egalitarians losing their original culture when theyāre overrun by religious zealots. This is also maybe the reason Iāve never won a game.
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Iām very much the same, and I think part of the reason Iām like this is because I donāt really understand the game deeply enough to make long term strategies on how to win. So when I donāt really know whatās the best choice, I find it easier to make the most roleplay relevant choices.
Thatās an interesting point! Iād say thatās definitely true for me as well, although I donāt think Iād realized it until you brought it up.
I guess that actually makes the roleplaying aspect kind of a clever game design tool too, to teach players the mechanical consequences of any given choice.
Another newbie question: I got about four hours into my run yesterday and found Iām kind of stuck. Iām not really getting the option to go anywhere and there arenāt many events occuring. In particular, Iāve found my ships canāt travel to certain areas for reasons Iām not sure of- am I missing a piece of tech or is it the result of something else?
Itās possibly tech, it might be too far for your ships to jump if youāre using wormholes or warp. It could also be due to closed borders. Things are still not perfect in the midgame, a lot of it tends to be setting up for the endgame right now, which isnāt ideal. Iām hoping Paradox adds a ton more events to give things to focus on during the midgame. Horizon Signal was a good start for that.
I just picked this up with the Humble Monthly sub for $12. Only played a few hours last night, but I like it! My first game Iām doing with full tutorial andā¦ its mostly pretty lonely out there! Iāve got a species of weak, non-adaptive smarties, and Iām struggling to get a colony ship built.
I"m holding off on Utopia for a beat, but judging from what I saw on the Waypoint stream, it looks like alot of the interresting Rando encounters and events pop from the expansion? Iāll have to play more, and maybe just turn off tutorial.
Playing more is always the solution to figuring things out, but there are also a few youtubers who go over some mechanics newbies may not get. To be honest, Utopia adds a lot, but the events tend to be more from Leviathans than Utopia.
The beginning can be a little slow more so if the location isnāt great. Balance the construction to keep energy and food positive while maxing out the output of minerals, research comes after that. Most of the events are driven by exploration so keep the science ship always busy surveying everything you can and looking for habitable planets and good clusters of resources for potential outposts (is not a bad idea to build a second one, but if resources are short one is fine).
Other than is patience or more speed. The base game in the early stages at least has a good amount of events and flavor, but Stellaris is not an event heavy game in general not to the extent that CK2 is now. Consider Utopia and Leviathan for the future if you really like it and the mid/end-game feels lacking.
I have been playing since the Humble Bundle went live, have about 11 hours now. I am trying to take out a crystalline entity home Crystal and itās accompanying fleet and am having no luck. Does anyone know what I need to spec for this? I am up to battleships now, and have read other places that naked Corvettes are more cost effective than upgraded ones, but I have wasted two fleets against these crystals already which has felt bad. First time I did naked Corvettes only. Second time I had two big battleships loaded up with Shields and plasma weapons and bombers, then 5 destroyers and 2cruisers loaded with armor and lasers, then about 50 Corvettes with lasers and evasion specs. Nothing is seeming to work well. Iāve only had the patience to build up to about 4k strength, but I am in a place right now that I donāt have much expansion available and I am at around 100 minerals a month only. Help.
Me too. I also like starting with a random empire and just rolling with whatever Iām given, pursuing the strategy and goals that would makes sense for the ethos I roll. Iāve found this to be more fun than trying to come up with an āoptimalā build.
With the big steam sale on the base game and all the expansions, Iām very tempted to pick this up.
I wanted to know, though, Iāve never really played grand strategy games (unless the Risk board game counts), is the base game good enough to enjoy or would I need to jump all the way in and get all the expansions right away to get the most out of the game?
Thanks!
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it absolutely is! and on top of that, as someone whoās always wanted to get into GSG but found getting thrust immediately into controlling the entirety of the russian empire or whatever pretty overwhelming, Stellaris does a great job of easing you into the genre.
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