3 hours so far, and my only complaint is that other AIs seem somewhat placid. Recommend others consider trying their first game on hard.
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3 hours so far, and my only complaint is that other AIs seem somewhat placid. Recommend others consider trying their first game on hard.
Hmmm a good review.Quote:
Originally Posted by Khendraja'aro
What do others think?
Don't suppose Wraith will emerge from his hole, bleary-eyed and gibbering, to give a view anytime soon. :o
EDIT: IGN weren't too impressed, giving it 6.3/10. Their main complaint was as Steely said, a dull and placid AI, who never attack.
And PC Gamer not overly impressed either for much the same reasons of placid AI and mid-game slump, giving it 70/100.
That's a shame, hope PDS can fix the AI.
Well I'm going to make up my own mind. Downloading now.
I think the criticisms in those reviews are fair, but kind of over emphasised. There's a lot to like about the game, played for like 6 hours+ last night.
Like, the game has legit problems but it's still probably the best space 4x going by some considerable distance.
AI isn't great, will second recommendation to start on hard, but overall I like the thing so far. I can see many hours getting lost in this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wraith
Is it worth 39.99 though. Im on budget, but I like what it is promising...
The problem with the AI isn't that it's bad per say, they seem perfectly competent at developing their empires and so on. It's that they're extremely passive diplomatically. I'm 10 hours in, and have yet to be on the receiving end of a war declaration and have only seen a handful amongst other empires in the galaxy.
You'll probably need to be starting mayhem yourself if you find the mid-game too dull.
Presumably something that can be either tweaked in a patch or will be able to be modded?
PDS games are normally pretty open to modding, I'm guessing this one will be.
The mid game slog and weak diplomacy earned this game a weak 6.3/10 from IGN and got it wrapped into yet another gamergate conspiracy. Paradox defended, but didn't completely agree with, the review. So at the very least they are aware of the issues the game has.
I don't doubt it will be addressed in the first patch.Quote:
Originally Posted by RandBlade
nearly 100 years into my first campaign, the game beings to liven up on the diplomatic front as the empires borders run into each other.
I'm wondering if it's cos I started on hard, but right at the start I'm bordering 3 or 4 other empires. I'm right at the edge of the galaxy, and have empires inward restricting my expansion in all directions.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steely Glint
Expansion is also difficult and slow. Influence is very hard to come by, so can't have more than 3 frontier posts before I'm out of influence. Limited to 7 planets, though I've built 9 which being over the limit gives me penalties on energy and further limits my influence.
So now I'm sat there, can't expand until I've researched an increase in planet colonization which doesn't seem to be happening any time soon, or my influence has increased which is happening at a very, very slow trickle.
So hard mode affects more than AI aggression I'm thinking. Though saying that, other empires aren't yet being aggressive in the slightest. Even after I set several of them to rivals in an attempt to boost my influence, one of them even asked to remove the rivalry and become friends again a few years later ...
Thinking I might start an alternate game on normal mode, until I've really learned the mechanics and nuances of the game so can better exploit them in hard mode ...
You have to assign your excess worlds to administrative sectors (and therefore let the AI take care of them) to get back below the planet cap. I don't think there are any techs that increase that limit, or if there are they are very late.
Maybe blag civilian access from one of the friendly AIs and try and leap frog them to expand beyond their borders? Expansion is slow in this game because colonies are super expensive, so you tend to get large patches of empty space available until well into the mid game.
Also, frontier outposts don't use influence when assigned to a sector, but I don't know if that is WAD or an exploit.
Ahhh - hadn't yet introduced sectors. Helps a lot with expansion.
And leaders for that matter.
Sounds like the principles in CK2 where you have your personal demesne and anything else has to be held by a vassal not yourself.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steely Glint
There are a couple. They start showing up mid-game. Some of the advanced governments will also give an increased limit over the base governments.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steely Glint
That's definitely a bug - they're actually taking their influence cost from the sectors, which don't have influence.Quote:
Also, frontier outposts don't use influence when assigned to a sector, but I don't know if that is WAD or an exploit.
My current game had me in a similar situation to Tim's - I picked hyperspace tech (the one with lanes), and spawned at the edge of the galaxy. I have safe access to about four systems, and then both routes out of my starting cluster are blocked by separate empires. I rushed my military growth and vassalized the smaller one. Was getting ready to do the same to the bigger one so I could send my ships out past them too, but then my motherboard failed.
The first war I was in came rather surprisingly - my current empire is part of a Federation and for some reason the "Vote for war" screen did not pop up when the current Federation's president decided to go to war.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steely Glint
My (minor) issue: The announcements can become somewhat annoying and spammish - "Enemy ships sighted" five times in a row or "Ker-blooop" when my energy gains dip into the negative and then oscillate between +1 and -1 rapidly.
Federations don't vote. The Federation president can go to war with whoever he wants, and everyone else is along for the ride.Quote:
Originally Posted by Khendraja'aro
This also means that when it's your turn, you don't have to promise any territories to your allies to get them to come to war with you.
Supposedly the first one was fixed in a patch that was just released a couple hours ago.Quote:
My (minor) issue: The announcements can become somewhat annoying and spammish - "Enemy ships sighted" five times in a row or "Ker-blooop" when my energy gains dip into the negative and then oscillate between +1 and -1 rapidly.
I think it's worth the cost as is, but if you're really on a budget, Paradox games go on sale pretty often. You can probably pick up half price if you're willing to wait until Christmas, and I'd bet you'll get at least ten off during the summer sale.Quote:
Originally Posted by Spenni
A spot-on review from RPS, which sums up my position perfectly as a newcomer to PDS:
Stellaris: A Great Strategy Game With An Infuriating UI
Starting again now on normal mode with all I've learned.
I'm still very curious and want it but I'll wait until the AI has improved :p I don't have time for it now anyway.
Just got my first galactic event - an invasion from another plane of existance. The gateway for that needs to be destroyed or they'll swarm us under.
Only problem: It's on the other side of the galaxy and the numbnuts between me and said gate would rather be destroyed than grant my warships passage.
Okay. This will be ... difficult unless I get the AI empires to chime in somehow. I made a beeline for the portal with an armada of 3 fleets with 20K attack power each.
I was initially greeted with 1 enemy fleet of 17k and 4 fleets of 3k. After engaging the largest fleet, 5 other 17k fleets warped in.
So, I guess the tactic will be: Weaken them first a bit by enganging single fleets and then go for the prize. Of course, that only works if they're not summoning fleets through the portal faster than I can destroy them.
what sort of date did you get that event?
2400-ish.
Okay, so what I gleaned from trying it myself and searching through several forums:
a) The AI empires won't do one bit to defend themselves
b) and without a really powerful fleet (~100k+) you're pretty much SOL unless you manage to do something like using one small fleet to attract the ire of the enemy, stringing him along. Then warping in a second fleet which goes directly for the gate.
c) Also, some kind of beam weapon I don't have (something something lance) is OP against them.
Oh, and if you see a Fallen Empire with a Ringworld - try to conquer that one. It will at least double your energy output. Yes. The energy output of your empire.
Quote:
Hi everyone!
Well folks, here we are again, one week later… The development team has mostly weathered the release jitters and nerves are starting to calm down. The ship we worked so hard on for the last three years has been successfully launched and is currently on its maiden voyage. The crew seems mostly happy but some of the inspectors have raised concerns about mid-ship structural issues. As chief architect, I am not entirely surprised, but the reports will allow us to commence upgrades as soon as HMS Stellaris returns from its round-trip to Alpha Centauri. Alright, enough with the metaphor, let’s talk about our future plans for Stellaris!
First off, for those of you who are unfamiliar with our post-release policies, we will release a lot of expansions over the coming years. Each expansion will be accompanied by a major update (for Stellaris, these free updates will be named after famous science fiction authors) containing a whole bunch of completely free upgrades and improvements to the game in addition to regular bug fixes. As long as enough players keep buying paid content for the game, we promise to keep improving the game for everyone, almost like an MMO.
Now, before we begin the expansion cycle in earnest, we will spend the rest of May and June only focusing on bug fixes and free upgrades to the game. We carefully listen to all your feedback, which has already made us alter our priorities a bit. As a veteran designer of our complex historical games, I was anticipating a fair amount of criticism regarding the mid-game in Stellaris compared to that of our historical games, but I was more concerned with the depth of the economy than the relative lack of diplomatic options, for example. I also find much of the feedback on the Sector system interesting; the GUI and AI concerns will receive the highest priority. One area I was not at all surprised to get flak for is the lack of mid-game scripted content, however. We simply took too long getting all the early and late game stuff in, and neglected a whole category of events called “colony events”, which were supposed to be the bread and butter of the mid-game for the Science Ships.
We’ve been digesting and discussing your feedback and how to best go about improving the mid-game to make it more dynamic, both in the short and long run. Let’s start with our short term plans. When the game was released, we had already proceeded to fix a lot of issues. Together with some other pressing issues that have been reported, the plan is to release the 1.1 update - “Clarke” - near the end of May. We will try to cram as much as we can into this update, but the more fundamental stuff will have to wait until the next update (“Asimov”), which is scheduled for the end of June. The “Clarke” patch will mainly be a bug fix and GUI improvement update. Here are some of the highlights:
"CLARKE" HIGHLIGHTS
Fixes to the Ethic Divergence and Convergence issues. Currently, Pops tend to get more and more neutral (they lose Ethics, but rarely gain new ones.)
The End of Combat Summary. This screen looks bad and also doesn’t tell you what you need to know in order to revise your ship designs, etc.
Sector Management GUI: There are many issues with this, and we will try to get most of them fixed.
Diplomacy GUI issues. This includes the Diplomatic Pop-Ups when other empires contact you, but also more and better looking Notifications, and more informative tooltips on wars, etc.
AI improvements: Notably the Sector AI, but also plenty of other things. This kind of work is never "finished"...
Myriads of bug fixes and smaller GUI improvements.
Late game crises bugs. There were some nasty bugs in there, blocking certain subplots and various surprising developments.
EDIT: Remaining Performance Issues. We know about them; they might even be hotfixed before Clarke.
EDIT: Corvettes are too good.
Stellaris_new_Diplo_Notification_Mockup.png
New Diplomatic Notification. This is a mock-up, not an actual screenshot!
Stellaris_End_of_Combat_Mockup.png
New Fleet Combat Summary. This is a mock-up, not an actual screenshot!
After that, we’re moving on to the “Asimov” update, and this is when we can start making some major gameplay improvements to especially the mid-game. As you might have guessed, we plan to add some new diplomatic actions and treaties. Another thing that struck me during our discussions is that the normal lack of access to the space of other empires makes the game feel more constricted than intended. It limits your options since you can’t really interact much with the galaxy beyond the borders of your empire, and you only tend to concern yourself with your direct neighbors. This is bad for your Science Ships too, of course, since they might not be able to finish some of the grander “quests”. Compare the situation with Europa Universalis, where you usually have access to the oceans and can thus reach most of the world, or Crusader Kings, where you can even move through neutral territory with your armies. We also intend to add as much mid-game scripted content as we can. Thus, this is currently the plan for “Asimov”, but it’s not set in stone yet, so please bear with us if something gets pushed or altered:
"ASIMOV" HIGHLIGHTS (NOT SET IN STONE!)
Border Access Revision: Borders are now open to your ships by default, although empires can choose to Close their borders for another empire (lowering your relations, of course.)
Tributaries: New diplomatic status and corresponding war goals.
Joint Declarations of War: You can ask other empires to join you for a temporary alliance in a war against a specific target.
Defensive Pacts.
Harder to form and maintain proper Alliances.
More war goals: Humiliate, Open Borders, Make Tributary, etc.
Emancipation Faction. We had to cut this one at the last minute. Needs redesign.
Diplomatic Map Mode. Much requested!
Diplomatic Incidents: This is a whole class of new scripted events that causes more interaction with the other empires.
Past “Asimov”, I can’t give you any kind of specifics yet, but I am currently leaning towards honing in on the following general areas for the “Heinlein” update (these are not promises!):
CURRENT "HEINLEIN" INTENTIONS
Sector and Faction Politics: We are working on a design for this. I always wanted to make Factions more closely tied to Sectors, for example...
Federation and Alliance Politics: As a player, you need more ways of interacting with the other members, push your will through, and get elected, etc.
Giving Directions to Allies and Subject States.
Strategic Resource Overhaul: You should need these and search for them far and wide. They should be extremely important.
Battleship Class Weapons. Some Battleship front sections will be repurposed for an XL size weapon slot. There are currently four ship sizes but only three sizes to weapons, creating an imbalance. Also, Battleships should have fewer small weapon slots and have to rely on screens of smaller ships.
Fleet Combat Mechanics: Formations and/or more complex ship behavior is needed.
Mid-game scripted content: Guarded “treasures”, mid-game crises, colony events, etc.
Living Solar Systems: Little civilian ships moving around, etc.
Again, remember that we need to be somewhat flexible when things don't work out or when something else takes priority, so please take these later plans with a large grain of salt. As always, we also listen keenly to your feedback, so keep it coming!
Now, I am sure you are full of questions about the details, but hold your horses; it will all be explained in the coming dev diaries!
Okay, another important fact I just found out:
If your run afoul of a Fallen Empire which is xenophobic and isolationist (i.e. you really don't want to settle near their borders), you may be able to get away with accidentally settling near their borders if you then immediately establish an embassy.
This will yield a +100 to their opinion of you, while the modifier due to border frictions likewise only goes to -100.
Otherwise they'll go after you with great prejudice and cut a huge hole into your empire.
Also: Wormholes rock. Warp sucks.
I started a new game on hard on a spiral galaxy. Turns out to be a more interesting experience: everyone runs out of room to expand much sooner, so you end up with more early game conflict. I got attacked by some imperialist space frogs with a superior fleet. Ended up trapping them in a battle round my home world with my space port, my defensive fleet and a defence platform using the ftl snare and routed them. Felt pretty good about it.
Nice. Currently running into a bug: I can't uplift pre-sentient species. I can start the project and all, but the science ship will rapidly switch between "moving" and "working on project", effectively not starting the project which then usually runs out of time.
I've seen a bug like that before; it only occurred for me when the scientist assigned to the ship was not high enough level to actually start the project. Sending a second science ship with a scientist who was high enough level freed the first ship.
1.1 Beta patch due to drop next week.
Had the same bug. Think all I did was restart the game and it fixed itself.
Nah, for me it's persistent - happens with two different species, two different scientists (both level 5) and after a restart.
Anyone tried the AI Balance mod, to have a more aggressive AI?
This game isn't really working for me ... losing interest.
I want to be able to conquer the galaxy and achieve victory, but it seems like the game is designed to make achieving this a frustrating exercise in endless needless tasks.
So I'm established, and have colonised as much as I can of my pocket of the galaxy.
Research has reached an advanced stage.
Have 3 fleets of 7k+ strength.
Sooo ... figure I'll declare war on my nearest little neighbour, a fishy mollusc species, who holds just 3 colonised planets.
Step 1: Declare War
- Establish War Goals :bulb:
- Ok - I want him to cede the 3 planets x, y, and z.
- WARSCORE TOO HIGH :confused:
- WTF. Ok. Google tells me 'Warscore' can't exceed 100. Sigh
- Tell him to cede 2 planets. WARSCORE TOO HIGH. Sigh
- Tell him to cede 1 fucking planet. :sour:
- War Declared
Step 2. Go To War
- Send in my 3 big fleets to his 3 colonised systems
- Little bit of a skirmish but he's easily overcome, and has no ships left.
- Wipe out his orbital platforms, mining and research stations
- Bombard his planets until there are no defences left
- Planets still belong to him :bulb:
- Realise I need to raise armies to send down to the planets to take them over
- Raise armies, and send them down to defeat ground defences on all 3 planets. Win.
- Planets still belongs to him :confused:
- Realise that this is a stupid Wargoals thing.
Step 3: Try to Achieve Victory
- Declare Peace with Neighbour Fishface thinking I've wiped him out completely, he'll cede his 3 planets as he is obliterated, has nothing left and has no choice
- Accepts Peace
- I get the 1 planet promised in the Wargoals, and the other two planets I've obliterated return to his control, and my fleets are forced to return to my space :mad:
- Swear at the screen and hit keyboard
Step 4. Declare War. Again.
- Establish Wargoals. Again.
- Tell him to cede the 2 planets that I've already conquered once :sour:
- WARSCORE TOO HIGH
- Fuck the fuck off
- Cede just 1 goddamn stupid miserable pissy little planet which was already mine then you little cocksocket
- War Declared
Step 5: Rinse and Repeat ...
- ... for an entire galaxy's worth of planets? I don't think so.
- Exit game
That was not fun.
Perhaps I like my games a bit less ... long game ... or something. No that's not it, other 4x games arent this frustrating to conquer your enemy.
Is it meant to be like this?
The wargoal costs are currently not well balanced, because they don't scale with empire size. They're going to fix this in the upcoming 1.1, the beta of which should land within days.
In the mean time, your best option for galactic is to set 'vassalize empire' as your war goal (which currently costs 60 war score irregardless of empire size - again, going to be fixed), win the war then wait however many years it is you have to wait, then integrate the vassal.
Paradox games generally operate on an historical principle that wars shifted borders a bit after a treaty is signed than resulting in a total war. So war goals need to be set (typically to win some border provinces for example) and once you've got enough war score points you get your opponent to accept a peace treaty which gives you everything you demanded. The flip side is you don't need to occupy everywhere to win, if your opponent accepts he's lost then you win all your goals even if you haven't fully occupied them all yet.
Normally you can only annex your opponents if they're down to just a few provinces left (eg 4 or less, or 3 or less) otherwise annex won't be an option. Otherwise grab a few provinces to reduce their size (but you should be able to get a few, not one). Or vassalise and then diplomatically annex them after they've been a vassal long enough (they may attempt to break free but you should be able to put their rebellion down).
One at a time does sound like a mistake.
All this is based on prior PDS games, not played Stellaris.
Or right now. It's out.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steely Glint
Until the 1.1 patch you actually had to occupy a planet before you could demand it in a peace treaty.Quote:
Originally Posted by RandBlade
I usually find you can grab up to three planets in a single war in Stellaris, it scales quite a bit with how developed they are.Quote:
One at a time does sound like a mistake.
Haven't had a chance to play on 1.1 yet.