Stellaris game thread

[Spaceception]

Hey! I got the game on Christmas, and I've been having a lot of fun with it, roleplaying, creating interesting empires, the like. What's your experience with the game? I may even do playthroughs in the future for the game, we'll see. Are you excited for Cherryh? I am, the update looks really cool, and the Apocalypse expansion looks amazing.

What kind of empires do you like making? What's your go-to strategy? Do you have a favorite end-game crisis? What's ascension path do you like going down (In my latest playthrough, I'm trying to go down the synthetic path)? Any tips for newbies like me?

And here's the Apocalypse expansion trailer which released earlier;

And the Utopia trailer, which I really like;

 

Edited January 11, 2018 by Spaceception

[ARS]

Well, I won the game by colonization victory, Aka colonize as many planets as possible. My empire is fungus materialist, focusing in economic warfare, an the ascension path that I take... Well I take megastructure-based ascension path, but for general strategy for newbie:

1. In the beginning, EXPAND. Use your science ship to go to other star systems to get strategic view of the entire galaxy. If you've researched automatic exploration, it becomes even easier. Expand your border by placing outpost and colonizing planet

2. If there's a new alien contact and prompt to research it's language, don't bother. Let them be the one who did it for us, this gives you more time to expand

3. Take the planet with as many times and resource nodes if possible. This will increase the space you can use to build mining camp and power plants, bolstering your economy. Sometimes colonizing a poor planet is viable if it allows you to get a strategic advantage in position

4. If you have your first contact, the alien's territory will be revealed. If possible, RUSH immediately to capture nearby star systems around it's border, colonize and/or build outpost to confine them inside your territory/edge of galaxy. This will severely limit their movement so you can expand more. If you want to really confine them, just close your border, they won't have any free movement to expand their border

5. Late game, energy becomes less critical, since you will mostly spend your time building fleet, where minerals is at must. In any case, you can sustain your economy alone with power plants during late game, build many power plants and use trader enclave to trade it with minerals for cash boost since energy is dirt cheap at this point. Or if you can build one, a dyson sphere can produce over 1000 energy per months, enough to cover your expenses and focus the entire planetary infrastructure for mining

6. Weapon has their own advantage and disadvantage. Lasers are good against armor, but bad at damaging shield, projectiles are good against shield but bad at damaging armor, while missiles has no damage bonus against anything but has 100 percent accuracy against moving targets, but they can be shot down. Consider checking your enemy's ship status and their weapon preference before preparing fleet to face the

7. My standard fleet usually consist of battleships fitted with focused arc emitter and kinetic artillery, supported by destroyers fitted with point defenses. This has a huge resource drain, but since I've built a dyson sphere and has a stable economy, it didn't bother me for upkeep and repairs. My fleet has a power of around 700k

8. If your standing is good with other empire (opinion 300 or higher, and you have military and technological advantage) there is usually an option (or their own request) to integrate their empire to your own (unless you're xenophobe). Doing this will integrate their species to your empire and all of their territory is transferred to yours, basically subjugating their empire without even firing a shot (I did this twice)

9. Late game crisis can be very powerful. Observe any clues and prepare for them. If there's "ghost signal" report, you will face The Contingency. if there's "the coming storm", you will face Prethoryn Swarm. If there's "ship warped in from another dimension", you will face the Unbidden. All of the has different mechanic and very powerful (I lost once against contingency but won against unbidden). 2 of those 3 crisis is triggered by something you or other empire did, Unbidden is triggered by researching jump drive, Contingency is triggered by Synth research (give them citizen rights)

hope that helps

Feel free to ask more

[Spaceception]

@ARS yeah, my only problem with energy mid-late game is keeping it positive with fleets. Galactic force projection is a fun perk, I like that one.

And I've never gotten far enough to build a Dyson sphere, oh how I'd like one though.

I'm doing a play through now, and I'm rushing research and unity mainly, and trying to expand via colonization. A nearby Empire is actually inferior in tech, that never happens!! I'm usually the inferior one

I've faced the contingency once, and scrouge twice (other games were done earlier because I had almost no hope), not the Unbidden though, but I have gotten jump drive before - but different crises. And I lost badly each time. Not nearly enough fleet power. 

[ARS]

A tip if you encounter unbidden in the next play through: they will warp in in one of the empire's territory (usually at the edge of the galaxy). It consist of a large fleet, an anchor and a portal. Their ship has a ton of shields but no armor and their attacks ignore armor (so don't bother equipping your ship with armor plating, they'll punch through, focus on spamming shields). Once they appear, RUSH to the portal location ASAP. Your priority target is the anchor then the portal, since portal can only be attacked after you destroy the anchor. The anchor is a beacon that calls Unbidden reinforcements every few months, so expect some heavy resistance and act fast. If you take too long, they will create another anchor in other star system and expand their territory (and reinforcement delivery rate). If your initial attack suffers more than 50 percent losses and defeat is inevitable, retreat and replenish your fleet. If you cannot repel them, then there's still hope: after a few years, the second and third faction of the unbidden will show up (with the same intention as the first) and predictably, they'll create anchor and portal too. During this time, they'll sometimes fight against each other. The key strategy for unbidden on late game is, the larger their territory, the more sparsely scattered their forces is, it also seems to delay their reinforcements. In short, once they have large enough territory, their forces is mainly on their borders while the portal and anchors deep inside their territory is unprotected or barely have any defenses. Use this opportunity to sneak a fleet to take out the portal and anchors ASAP (this will provoke main forces on the border to return to portal to defend it, but as their territory becomes large, it'll take some time before they arrived). Once all portals has been destroyed, no reinforcements will arrived anymore, leaving the rest of the unbidden is the last to deal with. The crisis ends if all unbidden fleet and their portals has been destroyed

I managed to stop unbidden when they create their 2nd portal, when I attack it, they send all their fleet to defend it, allowing me to sneak a much larger fleet to 1st portal and destroy it before steamrolling the 2nd. Funnily enough, their portals appeared on another empire that has lower military and tech level, but constantly insulting me. Once unbidden appeared, they beg for me as a refugee, and after the crisis ends, they agreed to be integrated in my empire

Edited January 12, 2018 by ARS

[Spaceception]

I'm thinking of doing stellaris playthroughs at some point soon. Maybe talking about book ideas I have, and even roleplaying as alien species in it. Would you guys be interested in that? I already want to do one for an alien invasion story idea I have

[Spaceception]

So, this is a revival, but it's also my thread, so....I'm posting again!

 

Since 2.0 came out, I've had a much better time building an economy, and fleet. Recently, I got Leviathans and Distant stars. And it's great! I got the Grey tempest, and fought it off with my OP fleets (Psi jumpdrive/precog interface/shields, Dragonscale armor, everything else max tier aside from Dark matter techs) But now 2.2 is on its way, and it's a doozy. It's a full economic/planetary rework, and it looks to really improve the roleplaying and immersion aspect of the game. I'm really excited for it.

Dev diary 120 https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/stellaris-dev-diary-120-new-economy-system.1114048/

Dev diary 121 https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/stellaris-dev-diary-121-planetary-rework-part-1-of-4.1115043/page-29#post-24588237

Dev diary 122 (released today!) https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/stellaris-dev-diary-122-planetary-rework-part-2-of-4.1115992/

Next one will be next week.

[KerbMav]

I never got good at space combat, that is building ships that actually are more powerful as fleet strength comparison suggests ...

Edited August 23, 2018 by KerbMav

[Mad Rocket Scientist]

I've considered buying this game, but I have two questions:

Is there lots of replay value? Will it stop being interesting once I've played through every main species type?

And is there a lot of micromanagement? Will large empires have much more time spent executing obvious decisions rather than deciding on what to do?

Thanks.

[Spaceception]

On 8/26/2018 at 5:52 PM, Mad Rocket Scientist said:

I've considered buying this game, but I have two questions:

Is there lots of replay value? Will it stop being interesting once I've played through every main species type?

And is there a lot of micromanagement? Will large empires have much more time spent executing obvious decisions rather than deciding on what to do?

Thanks.

I think so. I have 3 DLC's though (Utopia, Distant stars, and Leviathans), but I'd really say: get Utopia. That's kinda a given. Because you can build megastructures and go down the ascension paths. I've only had distant stars and leviathans for a couple weeks, but with just Utopia and the base game since Christmas, I had a lot of fun.

That might be up to you. I think there's lots of replay value, and there's a lot of main species types. Genocidal hive minds, spiritual psionics, synthetically ascended materialists, genetically engineered xenophiles, the list goes on. Apec has a playthrough of "garbage aliens" where he played with all negative traits to see how well he'd do. It's an outdated version though, still good.

Hmm, probably, yeah. Not exactly sure what you'd consider obvious decisions though. When you get an advanced building you have to upgrade them individually, but that doesn't take too long, and you can go back to deciding how  you want to proceed. And before wars you need to make sure your ships are retrofitted against whatever the enemy has. The 2.2 update coming out will massively improve the planetary management though, since it's a full economic and planetary update. The release date is TBD still.

But really, I'd just watch maybe the distant stars, or apocalypse playthroughs by Aspec, as well as like the "beginner" mechanics to give you a good idea of what to expect in the current game. The distant stars series is still ongoing actually. And the Apocalypse one is pretty good in my opinion. But at the end of the day, getting it is up to you. The game+expansions can eventually get expensive without sales, so yeah, watch playthroughs before you buy

[Mad Rocket Scientist]

On 8/27/2018 at 4:46 PM, Spaceception said:

I think so. I have 3 DLC's though (Utopia, Distant stars, and Leviathans), but I'd really say: get Utopia. That's kinda a given. Because you can build megastructures and go down the ascension paths. I've only had distant stars and leviathans for a couple weeks, but with just Utopia and the base game since Christmas, I had a lot of fun.

That might be up to you. I think there's lots of replay value, and there's a lot of main species types. Genocidal hive minds, spiritual psionics, synthetically ascended materialists, genetically engineered xenophiles, the list goes on. Apec has a playthrough of "garbage aliens" where he played with all negative traits to see how well he'd do. It's an outdated version though, still good.

Hmm, probably, yeah. Not exactly sure what you'd consider obvious decisions though. When you get an advanced building you have to upgrade them individually, but that doesn't take too long, and you can go back to deciding how  you want to proceed. And before wars you need to make sure your ships are retrofitted against whatever the enemy has. The 2.2 update coming out will massively improve the planetary management though, since it's a full economic and planetary update. The release date is TBD still.

But really, I'd just watch maybe the distant stars, or apocalypse playthroughs by Aspec, as well as like the "beginner" mechanics to give you a good idea of what to expect in the current game. The distant stars series is still ongoing actually. And the Apocalypse one is pretty good in my opinion. But at the end of the day, getting it is up to you. The game+expansions can eventually get expensive without sales, so yeah, watch playthroughs before you buy

Thanks, I'll take a look at those playthroughs.

[Spaceception]

Dev diary #123 part 3 of 4!

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/stellaris-dev-diary-123-planetary-rework-part-3-of-4.1116917/

Nearly forgot about this

 

 

[StupidAndy]

Stellaris is pretty good, its my highest time played game, but usually i just make an empire and just expand until i get to a peak point around 2270, then a ton of internal stuff happens and my empire falls

i also have no idea how to strategy for war stuff, so there's that too

[Mad Rocket Scientist]

It's currently on sale on the humble store for %60 off. The DLCs are on less of a deal though.

https://www.humblebundle.com/store/stellaris

[Spaceception]

8 hours ago, Mad Rocket Scientist said:

It's currently on sale on the humble store for %60 off. The DLCs are on less of a deal though.

https://www.humblebundle.com/store/stellaris

Yeah, for Distant stars and Apocalypse, which are recent ones. The others are pretty good. And Utopia is a great deal.

11 hours ago, StupidAndy said:

Stellaris is pretty good, its my highest time played game, but usually i just make an empire and just expand until i get to a peak point around 2270, then a ton of internal stuff happens and my empire falls

i also have no idea how to strategy for war stuff, so there's that too

I had similar problems myself approaching the late game. But I've gotten to the point I'm superior/overwhelming to everyone aside from the fallen empires.

 

For war, at least for me, I retrofit my ships to counter theirs, so I don't take much damage. And I make sure I have a bit a size advantage as well. So, for a 6k fleet, I'd prefer to have an 8-10k fleet. This way I can attack their home systems with the stations as well as their fleet.

I also look at the planets they have, and decide to attack in a way that leads me to all their worlds, and I just beeline for those. If I can, I usually leave a smaller, 2nd fleet at my borders, or a chokepoint to keep the enemy cornered until I have all their worlds. Or, if not busy, taking surrounding systems to up my war score.

[Spaceception]

This looks incredible. I can't wait to see streams of them actually playing it.

 

[XB-70A]

Just to give a huge thank to all of you for making me discover this game! Only 14 h 6 m since I downloaded it two weeks ago, but it's starting to become awesome. Despite being somewhat a bit hard (or complex to analyse) at the beginning, I've found a way to stop being in dept, then fought and repaired the first battleship I've met.

That game is really entertaining and pretty addictive too.

[Spaceception]

Just now, XB-70A said:

Just to give a huge thank to all of you for making me discover this game! Only 14 h 6 m since I downloaded it two weeks ago, but it's starting to become awesome. Despite being somewhat a bit hard (or complex to analyse) at the beginning, I've found a way to stop being in dept, then fought and repaired the first battleship I've met.

That game is really entertaining and pretty addictive too.

Yep! The facebook group is nice too if you have facebook. I've found it to be pretty civil so far. 

I also need to add the next dev diaries

124 https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/stellaris-dev-diary-124-planetary-rework-part-4-of-4.1117775/

125 https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/stellaris-dev-diary-125-the-galactic-market.1119230/

126 (Released earlier today) https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/stellaris-dev-diary-126-sectors-and-factions-in-2-2.1120288/

The game is only gonna get better with 2.2