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Stellaris |OT| Imperium Universalis

Paradox's model isn't something I'm overjoyed about, but at the same time there're worse models out there, and the base game gets significant, game-changing, updates even if you don't buy the DLC.

Yeah, and the cool thing about the free updates is that modders can use those improvements to further add to the game; take the artifact system coming with M&M - most of the Paradox-made ones will be in the paid DLC, but the system itself is part of the free update. This means modders can use it to add proper items that previously may have existed as traits and thus cluttered the trait screen.
 
How does a large part of the content of the expansion being free patch in any way help justify the $20 price for the paid part of it? That only makes the price worse.

I know what's being added, and to me there certainty isn't enough to be worth half the price of the full game.

Quite a few paradox expansions have arguably not been worth the full asking price day one, but that's ok because you don't have to pay for it to get some benefits and eventually it will be heavily discounted. I don't buy every expansion on launch if I'm not satisfied with what's on offer, but I do buy them 6-12 months down the line when they're going for 4.99 instead of 19.99.
 
It's a bad value proposition but I can't deny it's one of the most player friendly schemes in the biz.

Who else gives away most of their expansion feature for free?
 
Quite a few paradox expansions have arguably not been worth the full asking price day one, but that's ok because you don't have to pay for it to get some benefits and eventually it will be heavily discounted. I don't buy every expansion on launch if I'm not satisfied with what's on offer, but I do buy them 6-12 months down the line when they're going for 4.99 instead of 19.99.

That's understandable and I'll be doing the same, it's just my main issue is what the overcharging implies about their approach to the whole thing in the first place rather than the actual cost to myself.

If the paid content of Leviathan and Utopia had been packed into one expansion at around $15 instead, i wouldn't have much of a problem with that.
 
Not yet. This is an important step in the right direction, especially in terms of differentiating empires, but we won't be there all the way until at least they fix diplomacy.

With all the new ways to specialize and funnel empires into paths they have a great grid to work on Diplo going forward because of this.
 
With all the new ways to specialize and funnel empires into paths they have a great grid to work on Diplo going forward because of this.

They do, but it's not there yet :P

I'd also like to see trade considerably fleshed out before I call it the "grand strategy update." Espionage too.
 
Fanatic Purifiers: Your empire will not tolerate the existance of any other sentient life. This Civic requires you to be Fanatic Xenophobe/Militarist and gives very large boosts to the effectiveness of your military and gives you Unity from purging Xeno Pops, but disables all diplomacy with other species and forces all Xeno Pops in your empire to be purged (though you get to choose the method of extermination). All other regular empires will also have a massive relations malus with you, the one and only exception being Fanatic Purifiers from the same species.

[Imperium of Man Intensifies]
 
I don't usually buy Paradox's dlc at full price when I feel they're not doing something that will changed the core of the game. However the upcoming Bank update and Utopia expansion do great amount of changes to the nation state roleplay element that it justify for me to buy at full price. Of course it's not helping that I weak with grand space game like this and regional pricing practically makes it priced at $10.
 
I think you mean
Hive Minds (Paid Feature)
In addition to the Advanced Civics, those with the Utopia expansion also get access to a unique Authority with a highly unique playstyle: the Hive Mind. Hive Minds are species where the individuals are all part of the same, vast, psionically linked consciousness. The Immortal Hive Mind rules absolutely over the population of non-sentient worker drones, using sentient 'Autonomous Drones' (Leaders) to extend the reach of its will. Picking the Hive Mind Authority requires the Hive Mind Ethic and each can only be picked together with the other: With only one, vast and linked consciousness, the guiding values of a Hive Mind is whatever the Hive Mind player wants it to be. They have their own set of Civics that can only be used by Hive Minds, and cannot use any non-Hive Mind Civics.
[Zerg intensifies]
1536-1537-b-border-opt1.gif~c200



Didn't notice that they get their own set of civics, which is cool beans. Paradox is watching over me.

I just want it to be out already!
 
I think you mean

[Zerg intensifies]
1536-1537-b-border-opt1.gif~c200



Didn't notice that they get their own set of civics, which is cool beans. Paradox is watching over me.

I just want it to be out already!

Considering what he said was a W40K reference, Tyranids would be more appropriate there than the Zerg.

A completely organic (not the plant one) race pack would be interesting to see, it would fit in quite well with that.
 
The next step, Evolutionary Mastery requires the Targeted Gene Expressions technology. It grants an additional +3 trait points, a further reduction in time and cost of genemodding, and unlocks the ability to research the Genetic Resequencing technology, which once researched unlocks Advanced Genemodding. With Advanced Genemodding you will be able to add negative traits and remove positive traits, allowing you to completely reshape species at your whim. It also unlocks five new traits that are exclusively available to the Biological Ascension Path:
Robust: Upgrades from Extremely Adaptable, adds +30% habitability and an extra +30 years of lifespan.
Fertile: Upgrades from Rapid Breeders, gives -30% growth time and +5% happiness
Erudite: Upgrades from Intelligent, gives +20% science production and +1 leader skill levels.
Delicious: Makes the species delicious and nutritious, granting +100% food yield from Processing and Livestock.
Nerve Stapled: Removes the ability of the species to feel happiness or sadness. Happiness is disabled and Food/Mineral production increased, but adds major penalties to other resource production.

This game allows you to be so cruel. Well, at least they will be unable to comprehend it, as they no longer feel anything.
 
Yeah, being able to devolve an entire species into cattle is a level of either zero empathy or unquestionable wickedness that it is difficult for me to process. Can't wait to do it, thumbs up!

But is it worse to just grow them for food, or grow them for food and modify them not to complain about it 🤔
 
Oh, hadn't seen that the OT for this game is active. Guess I'll drop here and say hi to you all.

Lately Stellaris has become the go-to-game for me and a group of friends. At the beginning we were like 3 different people, but not we are up to (if everybody joins) 5. For some co-op fun I'd say 3 was the sweet spot though. When there is so many people the game becomes a bit too easy. I certainly appreciate that the game was a bit on the simpler side, since most of us weren't too much into strategy games, so this has been quite noob friendly.

I'm sure I'm going to delve into more complex games though. One of my friends and I have bought the latest Civilization bundle.

I've been messing around alone too, ofc. In general, I'd say I love the different stories that can emerge while you play. The game is not perfect, but it seem to be getting better with each Update and, after buying both the game and Leviathan during a sale, I think I'm buying Utopia day one.

All those changes to ethics and race customization look great :)
 
I wonder if any of the new civic combos would work for playing the aliens from John Carpenter's The Thing. They're a space-faring civilization after all.
 
How has this developed since release? I remember it being very bare-bones at release and people complaining about the endgame.

They introduced some events for midgame and are now finalizing the first big(ish) expansion that revamps internal politics, adds a new mechanic called Unity and three progression paths at the endgame. Oh and hivemind empires and eating other sentients. So in April you can eat the galaxy empty of other sentient species. Nom nom nom.
Or a materialist empire can shed the frailty of flesh and become one with the machine.
 
Completely random side note, but I've always felt that this thread title missed an opportunity by not going with Universalis Universalis. Because... It's conquering the universe, instead of Europe...

Alright, alright.
 
Frankly, it's still for all intents and purposes, bare bones. The next update Utopia, however, should add some real meat to dig into.

Look at the bright side! The game is simple enough for a new audience to start getting into Paradox games. I think it's the first game of its kind I've played.

Are there any mods worth checking that aren't very taxing with system resources? I've been looking for some information, and there that's something people don't talk about often. But I'm playing in my laptop and the CPU is not that good.
 
Completely random side note, but I've always felt that this thread title missed an opportunity by not going with Universalis Universalis. Because... It's conquering the universe, instead of Europe...

Alright, alright.

I still feel like it should have been called Making space games great again!
 
Completely random side note, but I've always felt that this thread title missed an opportunity by not going with Universalis Universalis. Because... It's conquering the universe, instead of Europe...

Alright, alright.

I'm still bitter I lost out with "Fellowships of the Ringworld".

All hail the blorg
 
Would the plantoids pack be worth it for around $4-$5?

Paradox sale on humble and I have the monthly discount as well.

🤔

Might just save my money though. Already bought Leviathans before.
 
Completely random side note, but I've always felt that this thread title missed an opportunity by not going with Universalis Universalis. Because... It's conquering the universe, instead of Europe...

Alright, alright.

That's not how Latin works. That just means "to the World to the World".
 
Would the plantoids pack be worth it for around $4-$5?

Paradox sale on humble and I have the monthly discount as well.

🤔

Might just save my money though. Already bought Leviathans before.

I honestly probably wouldn't recommend it for you. The new portraits and ship designs are cool, but they are quite slight in the overall picture of the game and unless you are super invested in Stellaris and the concept of new portraits (and it sounds like you are a little on the fence) then I don't think they are really worth it. If you are getting Utopia at release I could see the appeal more due to the fact that once that dlc drops everyone is starting a new race, but otherwise I would just save your money.
 
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...v-diary-64-minor-features-and-tweaks.1004046/


War Demand Costs

A frequent complaint about the mid and late game in Stellaris is that the warscore costs for taking planets simply do not scale well to the size of lategame wars. You can have a gigantic conflict involving dozens or hundreds of planets that results in only a few planets exchanging hands at the end. To address this, we've rebalanced war demands to still be quite expensive in the early game (when conquering a handful of planets is a significant increase in power) but added numerous ways to reduce the cost as the game progresses in the form of traditions and technologies, allowing for vast swathes of territory to change hands in late-game wars.

Picking Room Backgrounds

Another occasionally requested feature has been the ability to pick your own room background when designing your species, instead of having it automatically generated by your ethics. In 1.5, you will be able to select your room background in the Ruler customization screen. We've also added a new room background in a Hive Mind style.

Praise be!
 

I always hated the inability to change the room backrounds without changing ethics, so that'll be nice. Then there's this:

Empire-wide Food
Probably one of the most hotly requested features since the release of the game, we've changed food in 1.5 so that it is no longer local to planets. Instead, all food produced by planets goes into a 'global' food stockpile, which is used to feed the entire empire. The maximum size of this stockpile depends on your Food Stockpiling policy, and once your food stockpile is full, any additional food produced is instead converted into faster Pop growth across the empire at a rate relative to the size of the population (so an excess of 5 food/month will produce much more growth in a 10 Pop empire than in a 100 Pop empire). Conversely, if the stockpile runs out and food growth is negative, the empire will suffer starvation, halting all Pop growth and applying increasingly severe happiness penalties for all biological Pops.

Agri-worlds finally make sense.
 
Hmm, does that mean pop growth will be the same on every world?

Dunno. Could be based on habitability on top of available food. What's also interesting is the screenshot that shows different food stockpiling policies. There could be a cost to stockpiling and distributing food.
 
Dunno. Could be based on habitability on top of available food. What's also interesting is the screenshot that shows different food stockpiling policies. There could be a cost to stockpiling and distributing food.

Smaller stockpile -> faster growth

But if you lose your agri-worlds or they get blockaded in a war, you want a big stockpile so your empire doesn't starve for the time it takes to fix that.
 
There was a new Dev Diary that I completely missed, about music. Adreas Waldetoft gave a little behind-the-scenes info and two music samples from the expansion:


and also a track list for the xpac:
This is a list of the songs included in Utopia with a running time of 24 minutes and 30 seconds:
“A New Dawn”
“Towards Utopia”
“The Imperial Fleet”
“Cradle of the Galaxy”
“In Memory of M.R”

The update also mentioned a new free feature for everyone: a music player. (Plus a hint for what's to come at the bottom!)

The Music Player (Free Feature)
Thank you Andreas! I also wanted to touch briefly on the Music Player. The Music Player is an in-game tool that allows you to browse the music tracks available in the game and pick specific tracks you want to listen to. It also allows you to set which tracks should be on your playlist, whether they should play sequentially or use random shuffle, and also lets you go back to previously played tracks and skip forward to the next track. In other words... it's a music player, exactly as it says on the tin. :)
index.php


Finally, I'll leave you with a cryptic little note: There's something special that's been added to the audio for Banks by none other than our Audio Director, Björn Iversen, himself. Keep your eyes peeled for it in the patch notes...

That's all for now! Next week we'll start wrapping up the Utopia/Banks dev diaries by talking about colored ships and a few other tidbits.

hyppeeee
 
This game is overwhelming. Bought it day one and still can't bring myself to start it. Even though I want to.
 
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