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[LurkerPrime]

Top of page speculation: Cybernetics and playable machines seem like a prime spot for the first expansion. Both are thoroughly unexplored, AFAIK, and ripe for inclusion.
(I may have made this exact speculation some time ago.)

Dunno some of the new species portraits look pretty awesome.

They do. And it also includes appropriate building/ship aesthetics.

Does seem like a lot of money, though.


That said... on the other hand, having it might mean that you won't see repeat species every game! Which is a tempting offer. A devil's bargain, if you will.

 

[Anno]

Wait have they set a price yet? I can't find one.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Wait have they set a price yet? I can't find one.

Huh. I thought there was a price mentioned somewhere but now I'm not seeing it.

Anyways, $5 is what was floating around in my head and that'd be a bit much, considering the content-to-game ratio here.

 

[Walshicus]

Really hoping that we get ability to mod in new weapon slot types with Heinlein. I know they've talked about adding XL slots for Battleships, but a more generic solution would be best.

 

[Anno]

Huh. I thought there was a price mentioned somewhere but now I'm not seeing it.

Anyways, $5 is what was floating around in my head and that'd be a bit much, considering the content-to-game ratio here.

Around $5 would be my guess, too. I suppose I would be fine with that. I enjoy the game and have gotten plenty of hours out of it. Throwing them a large coffee for some cool new ships and aliens seems okay.

Edit: Looks like all the species have been shown now and one is a giant humanoid radish monster, so I'm definitely in. Space radishes will soon rule the stars.

 

[Purkake4]

Dunno some of the new species portraits look pretty awesome.

To each their own. I'm only paying for new features, all the cosmetic nonsense does nothing for me.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Around $5 would be my guess, too. I suppose I would be fine with that. I enjoy the game and have gotten plenty of hours out of it. Throwing them a large coffee for some cool new ships and aliens seems okay.

Edit: Looks like all the species have been shown now and one is a giant humanoid radish monster, so I'm definitely in. Space radishes will soon rule the stars.

Oh wow they are awesome.

I'm becoming such a spendthrift... now I'm considering this. It's the worst.

 

[bjaelke]

Stellaris: Plantoids Species Pack

Plantoids will include:

Fifteen new species portraits
New templates for plantoid civilian and military ships
New cityscape art.

€7.99

--

Patch notes:

Features
* Added missing interactions to emancipation faction

Balance
* Details mapmode is now on by default.

AI
* AI will no longer repeatedly ask you to join the same war after being declined.
* AI will no longer invite you to war against yourself.
* Sectors should now be more keen to upgrade capital buildings when possible.
* Fixed an issue with AI rebel empires being overly passive in war.

User Interface
* Added notifications for close/open borders.

Bugfixes
* Fixed AI crisis disassembling itself
* Now possible to revoke independence support.
* Fixed notifications for votes to start wars.
* Fixed Regulated Xeno Slavery policy option being available before encountering any xenos.
* Fixed Regulated Xeno Slavery policy option not having the correct tech prerequisite

 

[GrandHarrier]

Few more dollars than I was expecting.

 

[Baron von Loathsome]

Few more dollars than I was expecting.

Yeah, $5 would've been fine, but $8 is off-putting.

 

[Walshicus]

Ack, patch broke New Horizons due to a change in syntax needed for Species Categories... Fixed it, but which Modder doesn't love patch day?

 

[Purkake4]

Yeah, $5 would've been fine, but $8 is off-putting.

CK2 gives you 5 bits of cosmetic DLC for $5.

 

[Walshicus]

To be fair, it seems like the number of assets involved in making a new species class for Stellaris is a lot higher than what goes into CK or EU.

 

[Anno]

Yeah looking at the discussion on the official forum it seems like there's quite a bit of work that goes into this because of the ships. It seems like it's selling decently on Steam, but I wonder if it's enough to make more like this or if they maybe go for cheaper priced portraits without the ships.

 

[Aaron D.]

$8 for single-race Cosmetic DLC is just too much for me.

If they had included some species-related story events, new mechanics, or whatever...just something fresh on the gameplay side. Then I would have considered it.

But I simply can't justify $8 for some portraits and ship models.

Looks like I'm be folding into the old familiar Paradox "always one or two DLCs behind" purchase patterns. Only pulling the trigger when the DLC gets a significant discount.

 

[fallout]

If they had included some species-related story events, new mechanics, or whatever...just something fresh on the gameplay side. Then I would have considered it.

Honestly, I'm really glad they didn't go that route.

 

[CloudWolf]

Honestly, I'm really glad they didn't go that route.

One of the lesser known facts of Stellaris is that the non-custom races that are in the game have unique story events.

 

[DaanMuffin]

How are the tutorials in this? I'm pretty bad at these games, but the premise (and Austin's opinions on GB) look really interesting.

 

[GunslingerVit]

Tutorial is fine for beginners. But as the game is very content and detail rich, many (minor) aspects are not covered.

 

[DaanMuffin]

Tutorial is fine for beginners. But as the game is very content and detail rich, many (minor) aspects are not covered.

I suppose I'll learn those along the way.

 

[GunslingerVit]

That's always the thing with 4X games. Also, the internet provides valueable help and advice.

 

[DaanMuffin]

That's always the thing with 4X games. Also, the internet provides valueable help and advice.

Thanks for the info, I'll try it out!

 

[GunslingerVit]

It's a great game and got me hooked good. Miss the days when I had plenty of time to play Alpha Centauri or Master of Orion...

 

[LurkerPrime]

Regional pricing, blah... ~CDN$9.

I can't even dare myself to buy it at that price, Paradox.

 

[exmachina64]

One of the lesser known facts of Stellaris is that the non-custom races that are in the game have unique story events.

What?

 

[Alavard]

Regional pricing, blah... ~CDN$9.

I can't even dare myself to buy it at that price, Paradox.

It's not much consolation, but Paradox stuff goes on sale pretty often, both on Steam, and even more often directly on their store.

 

[Forerunner]

$8 seems kind of steep.

Spoiler

I bought it anyways.

 

[Deleted member 231381]

Paradox DLC policy gets progressively worse for each new item of DLC they release. We've gone from the content-high price-low bonanza of CK2's early DLCs, to 12 reskinned portraits for $7.99. Am not buying.

 

[User 85168]

Paradox DLC policy gets progressively worse for each new item of DLC they release. We've gone from the content-high price-low bonanza of CK2's early DLCs, to 12 reskinned portraits for $7.99. Am not buying.

Feels that way to me too. I bought Stellaris and HOI4 full price and was disappointed by how shallow the games felt, and knowing that I'm gonna have to buy expansions like I did in EU4 and CK2 to fill it out, well, it doesn't feel good at all.

 

[Purkake4]

Feels that way to me too. I bought Stellaris and HOI4 full price and was disappointed by how shallow the games felt, and knowing that I'm gonna have to buy expansions like I did in EU4 and CK2 to fill it out, well, it doesn't feel good at all.

Just hope that there's more to HOI4 expansions than national focus trees for $5 a pop.

 

[LurkerPrime]

It's not much consolation, but Paradox stuff goes on sale pretty often, both on Steam, and even more often directly on their store.

They've been more stingy with their sales lately, but yeah I agree. It'll probably see some kind of discount by Christmas; I'm guessing 33% off alongside the game, but they've bucked that trend before so eh.

They are really nice portraits, but I mean, they're still just portraits.


I really hope they do the CK2 thing of regular expansions. Stellaris is so ripe for it, maaan.

 

[Frozenprince]

I'll wait until the first major DLC drops and it goes on sale.

 

[bjaelke]

Postmortem: Paradox Development Studio's Stellaris

Great interview that goes in depth with some of the issues they faced.

We (or at least I) underestimated many of the mechanics that we thought would be fairly simple to nail. This mired us in design iterations too late in the development cycle. Although the game turned out great in the end, some of the more advanced design concepts suffered for it. Things like Federations, Alliances and Uplift - although functional on release - should have received more love. We also neglected the mid-game due to obsessing over getting the early experience right and making sure the late game threats were awesome. Fortunately, thanks to everyone who has bought the game, we’ll get a chance to improve on these things in the free updates we’ve got planned!

 

[m_dorian]

€ 8 is too expensive for this content.

 

[Ucchedavāda]

Paradox DLC policy gets progressively worse for each new item of DLC they release. We've gone from the content-high price-low bonanza of CK2's early DLCs, to 12 reskinned portraits for $7.99. Am not buying.

It's not just portraits, though. Remember that this pack also includes a new ship "theme", for lack of a better word, which, if it is like the other themes, includes a number of ships and a large number of modular ship-sections for bigger ships.

 

[Steel]

€ 8 is too expensive for this content.

I thought that, and then I noticed that I had 8 quid sitting around because of all the cards I sold recently so, like I have with other paradox content, I bought it with card money(Though normally I wait for sales).

 

[zugzug]

Tutorial is fine for beginners. But as the game is very content and detail rich, many (minor) aspects are not covered.

wait did you say this content rich game? I thought one of the complaints was it was barebones and it certainly seems bare to me.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Does the plant DLC come with pregenerated names for their species and ships? Because that would be cool.

Postmortem: Paradox Development Studio's Stellaris

Great interview that goes in depth with some of the issues they faced.

Thanks for the link! It's a good read.

Their thoughts seem on point--the mid-game is what was most lacking, but they are working hard to fill that void and improve the relevant mechanics. Beyond that, and some other, much less obvious issues, Stellaris is a grand success and the first of a new breed of Space 4X. It has a very stellar future ahead.


Now, delicious expansion teases:

WHAT WENT WRONG
[...]
3) IMMERSION IN A PROCEDURAL WORLD

Henrik: The biggest danger with moving away from our historical home turf was the loss of immersion. One of the main reasons our historical games work despite the intimidating presentation is the satisfaction people get from "making things right" (nationalist power fantasies), or challenging themselves to alter history in other ways just for fun. Now, everyone knows what France and Russia is, for example, and their minds are already filled with various conceptions about them, so immersion comes easy. We don’t even have to imbue these countries with much personality in the game; players will still perceive it.

Now, to deal with this lack of relatedness, we could have gone down the traditional route and made Stellaris about a few, pre-designed alien empires with very distinct personalities and backstories. However, we needed to keep the game Grand in scope, with many more playable entities than that. We also needed to stay on target; that first big X - exploration. The solution, I felt, was derived from the myriad possible combinations of Ethics, which should be reflected in how the empires behave and communicate. In the end, we didn’t quite hit the mark, mainly because there are not enough ways for the empires to "act out": Regardless of ethics, they all just seek more planets and territory. I’d also like to give them some sort of quirks based on cultural traits and, perhaps, generated backstories. This is something I hope to explore in an update or expansion to the game.

 

[Steel]

Does the plant DLC come with pregenerated names for their species and ships? Because that would be cool.

Yeah, but there's one namelist for all plantoids, no multiple like for the other groups. Their ship names are stuff like Blade, Leaf, etc. Their ruler names are like Rhibosome of Cyan and the like.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Yeah, but there's one namelist for all plantoids, no multiple like for the other groups.

Good to know.

...I'll admit I was hoping for two.

 

[GunslingerVit]

wait did you say this content rich game? I thought one of the complaints was it was barebones and it certainly seems bare to me.

Doesn't feel like there is less content than in other 4X games. Comparing it especially to Alpha Centauri.

 

[Purkake4]

Doesn't feel like there is less content than in other 4X games. Comparing it especially to Alpha Centauri.

Sure, the content is just a poorly structured jumble at the moment. The research system had a good concept, but it needs to be better at showing you what the actually research tree looks like.

 

[The Hamburglar]

for a game that isnt anything ground breaking graphics wise or AI wise, the performance of this sure is shit. Why are they still programming in direct x 9?

 

[Maledict]

Doesn't feel like there is less content than in other 4X games. Comparing it especially to Alpha Centauri.

The problem they have was outlined well in the Gamedev interview I thought. 4X games have a lot less events and individual content pieces because the base mechanics are so well tuned and detailed. Paradox grand strategy games don't need that level of tuning because they're a different beast.

Issue is, Stellaris is much more a 4X game than a grand strategy game right now, so it feels very hollow after a while. You end up passing time a LOT, and the mechanics around planet colonisation, research etc. and very basic compared to a standard 4X game.

For a grant strategy game, Stellaris doesn't have enough big events and grant strategy elements. For a 4X game, its mechanics aren't tight enough to carry the game alone.

 

[Purkake4]

The problem they have was outlined well in the Gamedev interview I thought. 4X games have a lot less events and individual content pieces because the base mechanics are so well tuned and detailed. Paradox grand startegy games don't need that level of tuning because their a different beast.

Issue is, Stellaris is much more a 4X game than a grand strategy game right now, so it feels very hollow after a while. You end up passing time a LOT, and the mechanics around planet colonisation, research etc. and very basic compared to a standard 4X game.

For a grant strategy game, Stellaris doesn't have enough big events and grant strategy elements. For a 4X game, its mechanics aren't tight enough to carry the game alone.

Yup, I was expecting a polished Distant Worlds, but got a grand strategy lite (in space). Paradox needs to pick a direction and take some nice long strides in that direction.

 

[The Hamburglar]

Yup, I was expecting a polished Distant Worlds, but got a grand strategy lite (in space). Paradox needs to pick a direction and take some nice long strides in that direction.

what more could they do to the game to make more grand strategy though? this is my first paradox game I think, unless sins is?

 

[Purkake4]

what more could they do to the game to make more grand strategy though? this is my first paradox game I think, unless sins is?

Sins is by Ironclad (and Stardock).

There is no easy answer. I'd say adding more personality and character to the AI empires would be a good start. However you do this, the end result should be that when you meet empire X (presumably going by the collection of their traits) you know what to expect. Civilization does a very good job here, but obviously you can't just copy their system directly. Another easier change is to add many many more unique events that add more character to your empire and make each game feel unique.

 

[The Hamburglar]

it definitely needs more random galactic events, I know galactic civs 2 had lots of galaxy wide random events. The random end game one of stellaris is disappointing.

 

[Purkake4]

it definitely needs more random galactic events, I know galactic civs 2 had lots of galaxy wide random events. The random end game one of stellaris is disappointing.

A civ-style galactic senate in the mid-late game would offer a lot of interesting gameplay options. You could have votes on sanctioning rogue empires, acting on galactic events, etc. This would also open the door for more political and espionage stuff and also put a damper on blobbing out too much, when literally everyone else would be on your ass.

 

[Poodlestrike]

A civ-style galactic senate in the mid-late game would offer a lot of interesting gameplay options. You could have votes on sanctioning rogue empires, acting on galactic events, etc. This would also open the door for more political and espionage stuff and also put a damper on blobbing out too much, when literally everyone else would be on your ass.

This is what I was hoping they'd talk about as a plan pre-launch, a galactic UN. Less binding than alliances or federations, but with much, much broader membership, so the decisions and political maneuvering can still have impact.