Lister
Banned
I'ts pretty accessible. The tutorial takes you through the basics pretty well. the rest is all about discovering mechanics as you encounter them, IMHO, but fele free to ask questions.
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Stellaris |OT| Imperium Universalis
- Thread starter More_Badass
- Start date
I'ts pretty accessible. The tutorial takes you through the basics pretty well. the rest is all about discovering mechanics as you encounter them, IMHO, but fele free to ask questions.
LurkerPrime
Member
Another sneaky dev diary slipped out, this time focused on presentation & UI. Highlights are: improved map readability and smarter UI in general.
I just want to highlight the coolest one:
Then some pics of the other improvements:
Lastly, their teaser for next week:
Ship colouring is heavybreathingcat.gif worthy.
I just want to highlight the coolest one:
Ship Coloring
Something that's hardly gone unnoticed in the screenshots and streams is that the ships in Banks look different than from before. We've mentioned wanting to make each empire's ships more distinct so that no two Fungoid empires would have the exact same ships. In Banks, your flag color will affect the coloring and lighting of your ships, as well as the color of the engine trails they leave. The exact way in which the coloring affects the ships depends heavily on the ship style you're using, but the overall effect should be that your empire's ships feel much more distinct and that it's easier to tell apart the ships of different empires at a glance.
Then some pics of the other improvements:
Map Colors
Primitive Galaxy Map Icons
Lastly, their teaser for next week:
Ship colouring is heavybreathingcat.gif worthy.
Poodlestrike
Banned
Oh yes, fucking finally! Ship colors!
Map reads more easily, but honestly you usually only see serious problems if you get bordering empires with identical colors, which is usually something that happens mid-game anyway. Not sure that's totally solvable.
Lister
Banned
Pretty sure they said they are making sure empires don't share colors.
Lister
Banned
Patch notes for 1.5 are up!
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...laris-dev-diary-67-banks-patch-notes.1008247/
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...laris-dev-diary-67-banks-patch-notes.1008247/
Honestly I didn't feel that way. Just watch like an hours worth of youtube videos and you'll get it.
One Foul Note
Member
They said anywhere why they are changing Frontier Clinics? They are going from a habitability boost to reducing growth time. I presume it is a rebalance to make them better for races that are more adaptable and don't really benefit from the habitability boost, but it is a weird change to the nature of the building given that they have now turned from a must build on most alien planets to one that players will actively destroy once they reached max population.
Following the "announcement" of cross-title play for Hearts of Iron and Stellaris...
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...total-conversion.954925/page-69#post-22608352
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...total-conversion.954925/page-69#post-22608352
They'll hand that stuff out to *anybody* these days...
LurkerPrime
Member
I'd have preferred they just released it early, myself. Influencers aren't some magic word-of-mouth machine.
Lister
Banned
Actually, that's exactly what they are.
Besides, everyone's been mentioning that they got a pre-release copy anyway (labeled developer build), so it's likely not the same version that will ship officially. They probably are still working on some bugs.
With the new Mechanist Perk, I think my first Playthrough of Utopia will be as the Quarians from Mass Effect!
Any Questions
Member
Please can someone offer a bit of advise on mods. What are your preferred and how do you install. Not used to adding mods to games. Thanks in advance
One Foul Note
Member
Nice, I was tempted to go machine heavy, but my last big game was with a race of peaceful gearheads so I fancy something completely different. Seeing as their are a bunch of new ways to control your population then I feel like making a race of psychic slavers with a focus on expansion and control. Basically space Mind Flayers.
Just go to the workshop section of the game in the Steam community tab, find mods you like and click Subscribe and they'll be in the launcher next time you load the game. From there just click enable if they aren't.
There are mods for just about everything so it's hard to really recommend without knowing what it is you want to change or expand on. I use just some basic stuff like adding new flag colors and symbols and new portraits.
This ~400 year timelapse of Utopia/Banks popped up on Reddit remarking that it looked pretty varied compared to what we may see now. Things do look much more chaotic in certain parts of the universe so I'm hoping that the new factions make for a lot more splinter groups and fractured empires.
LurkerPrime
Member
Damn, the way they Unbidden wipe out 90% of the galaxy is chilling. Reminded me of Mass Effect, kinda.
Hopefully I will be better prepared than that blob West of where the Unbidden started.
It's fun that you can kinda see the cycles of the universe in this. Eventually the Autocracy will decline into a Fallen Empire of its own along with maybe one more. Then, sometime eons down the road when life has recovered on the planets made bare by the Unbidden, others will take to the stars to begin the process anew.
Poodlestrike
Banned
Looks like the green blob was holding its own pretty well up until they started having revolts. Shit's cool.
What's everybody going with for their first outing? I'm thinking Fanatic Spiritualist with a bent towards Autocracy. Hunt that Psychic Godhood.
ZeroMaverick
Member
So...two questions:
If I love Civ, but have never really played any other real time strategy...thing, would I enjoy this? I heard Austin Walker talking this game up, and now I'm intrigued.
How does it perform on Mac?
If I love Civ, but have never really played any other real time strategy...thing, would I enjoy this? I heard Austin Walker talking this game up, and now I'm intrigued.
How does it perform on Mac?
LurkerPrime
Member
For an idea of what it actually plays like, check out the Austin Walker-hosted Quick Look of Stellaris, back when he was at Giant Bomb. It did a pretty good job of outlining what the game is like IIRC (or at least, why it's so cool). Note that it's an older version of the game (around launch).
Anyways, it's supposed to be the most accessible Paradox strategy game and I think it largely succeeds; you should be fine if you dig the video above. It is a fusion between 4X and Grand Strategy, so if you've played Civ you understand the basics. The idea is that it starts as a 4X and morphs into more of a Grand Strategy game as you play (GS games are all about complex political maneuvering in huge settings. Not so much war as Game of Thronesy stuff.) except Stellaris has all kinds of glorious sci-fi trappings.
And re: Mac. No idea, sorry.
This was my gateway from Civ-style games into Paradox strategy games so yeah I think so. The game can be paused and slowed down so much that there isn't really much if any twitchy real time involved. The beginning should feel familiar to you and gradually become something different as the game goes on. It will help a lot if you enjoy role playing at all as I think that's one of the games biggest strengths.
Sorry, no idea about Mac, but I don't remember seeing a lot of complaints here or in the Paradox forums or subreddit.
One Foul Note
Member
Highly possible. Stellaris is a good gateway drug from the mid range complexities of games like Civ into the higher tier of usual Paradox games. Although going from turn based strategy to pause and play ones does require a bit of a change from your usual mindset, although Stellaris starts simple enough that that isn't a massive issue. If you are looking for a new challenge and willing to throw yourself into this odd space opera world then you certainly might get a lot out of Stellaris.
Also note that there are sorting tabs in the Workshop for Most Popular, Most Subscribed, etc. as well as mod-type Tags on the right-hand side of the page. That might help with discovery.
I tend to stick with UI mods that address common complaints. For example, UI Overhaul 1080p.
There's also total conversion mods like Star Trek: New Horizons and Star Wars: A Galaxy Divided that completely turn the game on its head.
There's TONS of stuff in the Workshop if you just browse around. Good luck!
................
In other news...less than 24 hours to Utopia!
Get HYPE!!!
It's 33% off on the Paradox store if that's enough. Gives you a Steam key.
CertifiedFP
Member
So what time do Paradox DLCs usually go up on their launch days?
Don't forget to create the Geth first.
Austin Walker was talking up Stellaris on Monday's Waypoint Radio podcast.
He suggested that the Utopia/Banks update has fleshed out the game and addressed the bulk of his complaints about the launch product. Austin described a chapter of his current play-through where his empire was churning in turmoil as various internal factions struggled against conflicting needs and goals. Saying that this increased focus on internal politics (and by extension spilling over into "international" politics), brought the CK2 art of balance into Stellaris. Filling a big vacant hole the game has had since launch, where politics were a far more binary At War or At Peace proposition.
I was already hyped for Utopia, but now I'm simply stoked.
Thanks for sharing that podcast. I just listen it and Austin's playthrough was amazing
I'm eager to play Utopia.
CertifiedFP
Member
As I predicted.
This isn't merely the "Banks Update". This is the "Grand Strategy" update that finally makes this a proper Paradox game instead of a space-RTS that happened to be made by Paradox.
CertifiedFP
Member
Honestly it's necessary for balancing. An empire with no diplomatic qualms could easily balloon to a massive size and hoard space in a short time by Anschlussing every primitive in sight. I've created some intimidating Deathblobs that don't need no allies in previous versions just following this strategy.
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
Same time as the Scorpio reveal.
Hari Seldon
Member
Haven't played this game since launch, but ringworlds and Hiveminds are going to bring me back!
Does the patch/DLC go live at midnight tonight?
Just make liberal use of the pause button and take your time perusing the menus and taking things in. I skipped around some let's play videos to help with the learning curve, but I think stellaris does a better job teaching newbies than EU4.
no idea about mac but my $500 Acer laptop runs it fine.
Yes, I loved civ and Stellaris is similar enough that you should like it, but different enough to feel entirely fresh. It also got me to buy EU4, which I also love.
Just make liberal use of the pause button and take your time perusing the menus and taking things in. I skipped around some let's play videos to help with the learning curve, but I think stellaris does a better job teaching newbies than EU4.
no idea about mac but my $500 Acer laptop runs it fine.
LurkerPrime
Member
I'm selfish. I still want more species portraits. Kind of hoping there's some tucked in the expansion.
In life, there are no coincidences.
In life, there are no coincidences.
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
I want each portrait to have its own robot portrait.
Then I want more portraits in every category.
Then I want settings to guarnatee unique species portraits per-species each game.
Did they ever fix the "multiple earths showing up" problem in Stellaris?
LurkerPrime
Member
Resound YES to everything you typed.
I'd also add variants (yes, multiple) to existing portraits for species that break off due to genetic manipulation or other factors.
I want it alllllllllll
CertifiedFP
Member
What I want is an option for robot portraits that look minimally robotic.
Y'know, like in Ghost in the Shell.
Y'know, like in Ghost in the Shell.
LurkerPrime
Member
Some kind of overlay/filter that adds GitS style lines and dots would work for Cyborgifying a race with less effort, but it'd be impossible to make it universally apply to all the different forms the portraits come in. (Based on my completely ignorant assumptions, at least.)
Also, as much as I like a majory-humanoid galaxy in terms of species (Star Trek-y), I don't wanna give up the weird ones, like infested teddybears, giant spiders, or hydras. So I'm glad they took the current approach, even if it is forever in need of more portraits.
Also, as much as I like a majory-humanoid galaxy in terms of species (Star Trek-y), I don't wanna give up the weird ones, like infested teddybears, giant spiders, or hydras. So I'm glad they took the current approach, even if it is forever in need of more portraits.
I'm less interested in species than in new clothing assets. Lots of opportunities here, but at the same time we've (in the Star Trek mod team) had to do some arse backward things to support certain customisations like Borg-ification.