Spaceception

I've been playing stellaris all day.

No, I do not regret it.

Anyway, I have 9 planets, and terraforming another. But there were practically NONE tundra, artic, or alpine worlds near me, which stunted my growth, and let my neighbors box me in. So I'm pretty clustered. Thankfully they like me.

And because of me needing frontier outposts to keep territory, my influence dropped, so when my scientists and leaders started to die, research went slow, and I couldn't get new ones.

Ascension perks are good, should be able to get megastructures at some point, and my tech level is ok, but everyone is superior or overwhelming (again, crap planets at the start). I think I'll increase the hab planet percentage and play in a small galaxy next time (I'm in a tiny one).

I think it's picking up again though, mineral/energy production are around 50-65 right now, unity is really high too 70 something I think, my food limit is still 200, but I'm making more than enough, and I have a 4.4k fleet. I also have 400-500 influence, somewhere around there.