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[Purkake4]

Tbh, what else are you going to do in the early game with your income in the low dozens and owning 1-2 planets. I've skipped it a bunch of games since everyone closes their borders after I purge a species or two and I can't explore within their borders.

Deal with internal politics, your society deciding how to deal with the shock of other intelligent alien life existing, choosing how to approach less advanced alien life (and it having actual consequences for your species/society), using your limited resources to make meaningful decisions instead of just spamming tile improvements.

Instead of forcing you to spend time clicking on stuff, make exploration engaging, add different objects into solar systems, different qualities/quirks to planets, suns, derelict ships/bases, environmental effects that might damage/slow your ships, stuff like that. At the moment all the content is through event popups and the practical exploration part is meaningless.

 

[Tacitus_]

Deal with internal politics, your society deciding how to deal with the shock of other intelligent alien life existing, choosing how to approach less advanced alien life (and it having actual consequences for your species/society), using your limited resources to make meaningful decisions instead of just spamming tile improvements.

Instead of forcing you to spend time clicking on stuff, make exploration engaging, add different objects into solar systems, different qualities/quirks to planets, suns, derelict ships/bases, environmental effects that might damage/slow your ships, stuff like that. At the moment all the content is through event popups and the practical exploration part is meaningless.

Spiritual Collectivist. What internal politics? Dissidents will be purged.
Though with Unity that might change. Or I'll just play hivemind and skip them again >_>

fake edit: oh you meant what it should be?

 

[Purkake4]

Spiritual Collectivist. What internal politics? Dissidents will be purged.
Though with Unity that might change. Or I'll just play hivemind and skip them again >_>

fake edit: oh you meant what it should be?

I feel that that the early game could be getting up to the dissident purging while picking up variety of semi-permanent modifiers on the way through a nice branching event chain. In the end you'd probably not have to worry about internal politics, but you'd take a few negatives on research and get mad unrest if you ever allow xenos in.

The hive mind would be the "I do what I want" option, but come with its own restrictions.

 

[Kumquat]

I've been pondering what to do for my first play through. I was thinking maybe a fanatic xenophobe hive mind. Something like that. I want to play with purging options and stuff and build fantastic structures with void born.

 

[Tacitus_]

I've been pondering what to do for my first play through. I was thinking maybe a fanatic xenophobe hive mind. Something like that. I want to play with purging options and stuff and build fantastic structures with void born.

For purging there's always the Fanatic Purifiers.

“And we have the Fanatic Purifiers,” says Anward, “which are kind of special. It’s you basically deciding that your species is the only one that’s allowed to exist. If you pick this one, you will disable all diplomacy in the game. The only thing you can do is declare war, declare rivalry and send insults. It also disables a lot of special interactions between things like independent space stations, where normally you would be able to call them up and say, ‘Hey, let’s trade’. You will only be able to call them up to yell insults over the communicator.”

But it does give you some very significant benefits - you get a huge bonus to your combat abilities, and in addition gain Unity, which is the resource for Traditions and Ascension perks, by purging. That means you can develop your empire and your species by wiping out other species. But the downside is that everyone will hate you.

 

[Kumquat]

For purging there's always the Fanatic Purifiers.

AND SOLD!

 

[J3ffro]

I've almost pulled the trigger on this games several times over the last few months, mostly due to Austin talking about his experiences on Waypoint Radio. His most recent report of the game put me over the edge, and the sale on Steam didn't hurt either.

I've got some time this evening to play, but as someone who's not played much of this type of game, but wants to get into it, should I pony up the $20 for the expansion for the added depth, and start off on the best foot available? I'd prefer to set myself up to win, and while money certainly matters, I'm at the point in my life that hours and hours spent is worth far more than an extra $20 if that makes it appreciably "better." But if it really only adds depth that would be appreciated on subsequent play throughs, then not spending $20 I don't need to isn't terrible either.

 

[CertifiedFP]

I've almost pulled the trigger on this games several times over the last few months, mostly due to Austin talking about his experiences on Waypoint Radio. His most recent report of the game put me over the edge, and the sale on Steam didn't hurt either.

I've got some time this evening to play, but as someone who's not played much of this type of game, but wants to get into it, should I pony up the $20 for the expansion for the added depth, and start off on the best foot available? I'd prefer to set myself up to win, and while money certainly matters, I'm at the point in my life that hours and hours spent is worth far more than an extra $20 if that makes it appreciably "better." But if it really only adds depth that would be appreciated on subsequent play throughs, then not spending $20 I don't need to isn't terrible either.

YES.

Utopia represents a masive overhaul to the game's systems that gives it proper political simulation.

Get Leviathans while you're at it for some extra content.

 

[J3ffro]

YES.

Utopia represents a masive overhaul to the game's systems that gives it proper political simulation.

Get Leviathans while you're at it for some extra content.

Well damn, I almost had to wait, and I almost had to parse through hemming and hawing.

The definitive YES was exactly what I was looking for. Thank you very much.

 

[Purkake4]

Well damn, I almost had to wait, and I almost had to parse through hemming and hawing.

The definitive YES was exactly what I was looking for. Thank you very much.

Honestly, I'd wait for a few more expansions. I'm having way more fun with CK2 and EU4, they feel... done.

 

[J3ffro]

Honestly, I'd wait for a few more expansions. I'm having way more fun with CK2 and EU4, they feel... done.

Do either of those have the same level of political depth? Something that resonated with me from months ago (I distinctly remember folding laundry as I listened to Waypoint) was Austin gerrymandering to keep oppressing a race.

I thought was absolutely amazing, and horrifying, all at the same time.

 

[Quixzlizx]

Is DLGamer a legit site? They currently have Utopia on sale for $16.

 

[Aselith]

Austin told a really good Stellaris story on the Waypoint podcast this week. Shit goes places lol. It's basically right at the beginning about 6 minutes in.

https://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/art...ut-space-birds-in-stellaris-on-waypoint-radio

Do either of those have the same level of political depth? Something that resonated with me from months ago (I distinctly remember folding laundry as I listened to Waypoint) was Austin gerrymandering to keep oppressing a race.

I thought was absolutely amazing, and horrifying, all at the same time.

lmao I forgot about that. This dude has some serious latent Republican tendencies as his story from a few days ago proves.

 

[Anno]

Do either of those have the same level of political depth? Something that resonated with me from months ago (I distinctly remember folding laundry as I listened to Waypoint) was Austin gerrymandering to keep oppressing a race.

I thought was absolutely amazing, and horrifying, all at the same time.

More political depth overall, yeah. Especially outside of your own empire. It's on a different scale in some cases because they mostly deal with the confines of human history, but that also allows them to be more personal as well.

 

[J3ffro]

Austin told a really good Stellaris story on the Waypoint podcast this week. Shit goes places lol. It's basically right at the beginning about 6 minutes in.

https://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/art...ut-space-birds-in-stellaris-on-waypoint-radio

This was the final straw to get me off of the sidelines and go ahead and purchase the game. He's a one man marketing team.

More political depth overall, yeah. Especially outside of your own empire. It's on a different scale in some cases because they mostly deal with the confines of human history, but that also allows them to be more personal as well.

Well damn. Suddenly my cup runneth over on this type of game, because that sounds really cool. I haven't played enough to be turned off by the perhaps more commonplace setting.

I'm thinking I'll dip my toe into Stellaris tonight, since I've already bought it, and if it grabs me I'll pick up at least one of the others while it's on sale. Have something on deck, so to speak.

Of CK2 and EU4, is there an overwhelming preference?

 

[Purkake4]

Do either of those have the same level of political depth? Something that resonated with me from months ago (I distinctly remember folding laundry as I listened to Waypoint) was Austin gerrymandering to keep oppressing a race.

I thought was absolutely amazing, and horrifying, all at the same time.

Yes, for sure. CK2 is all about political maneuvering on a personal level and EU4 is more about state level alliances, rivalries and so on.

Of CK2 and EU4, is there an overwhelming preference?

Check out some gameplay videos. The level of focus is different so it's really up to personal preference. CK2 is more fun, but EU4 has more strategic depth.

 

[Quixzlizx]

This was the final straw to get me off of the sidelines and go ahead and purchase the game. He's a one man marketing team.



Well damn. Suddenly my cup runneth over on this type of game, because that sounds really cool. I haven't played enough to be turned off by the perhaps more commonplace setting.

I'm thinking I'll dip my toe into Stellaris tonight, since I've already bought it, and if it grabs me I'll pick up at least one of the others while it's on sale. Have something on deck, so to speak.

Of CK2 and EU4, is there an overwhelming preference?

EU4 is the story of your country. CK2 is the story of your feudal family dynasty.

 

[Aselith]

Well damn. Suddenly my cup runneth over on this type of game, because that sounds really cool. I haven't played enough to be turned off by the perhaps more commonplace setting.

I'm thinking I'll dip my toe into Stellaris tonight, since I've already bought it, and if it grabs me I'll pick up at least one of the others while it's on sale. Have something on deck, so to speak.

Of CK2 and EU4, is there an overwhelming preference?

I think most people prefer CK2 due to it being more focused on the diplomacy and human story elements and EU is more focused on the empire building/ conquest strategy layer.

 

[J3ffro]

Yes, for sure. CK2 is all about political maneuvering on a personal level and EU4 is more about state level alliances, rivalries and so on.


Check out some gameplay videos. The level of focus is different so it's really up to personal preference. CK2 is more fun, but EU4 has more strategic depth.

EU4 is the story of your country. CK2 is the story of your feudal family dynasty.

I think most people prefer CK2 due to it being more focused on the diplomacy and human story elements and EU is more focused on the empire building/ conquest strategy layer.

Man, that thing where you dive into an OT on GAF to learn more about a game, only to find it's filled with a bunch of incredibly helpful people. Thanks for the input, I will check out some game play of both, but it sounds like CK2 may be slightly more my style.

 

[Aaron D.]

Both CK2 and EU4 have demos on their Steam pages.

Check 'em out this weekend before the sale ends.

I prefer CK2 myself, but they're both great.

 

[Purkake4]

Both CK2 and EU4 have demos on their Steam pages.

Check 'em out this weekend before the sale ends.

I prefer CK2 myself, but they're both great.

Haven't checked it, but I do have a feeling that those demos are a good 3-4 years out of date.

The extra good thing about CK2 is that it's pretty much "done" whatever extra content there will be will be just additional fluff on top. EU4 just got a bunch of new mechanics and might get a few more.

 

[Aaron D.]

Yeah, that's a good point.

At $9.99, CK2 is such an absolute no-brainer. I'd recommend it in a heartbeat to anyone interested in the genre.

Easily Paradox's crowning achievement.

 

[J3ffro]

Do you need the expansions of CK2 or EU4 to get the whole experience, or does the base game shine on its own?

 

[Shengar]

Do you need the expansions of CK2 or EU4 to get the whole experience, or does the base game shine on its own?

Like other Paradox Game, they get better with each expansion so you have to at least own some of the essentials DLC. Both EUIV and CK2 already have tons of it so you might want to wait for a sales.

 

[LurkerPrime]

This list of CK2 expansions gives a good overview of their features. Old Gods, Way of Life, Legacy of Rome, and Reaper's Due are the ones I'd recommend before anything else, though. But the other expansions are also really good.

And yeah, if you're looking for more political intrigue, Crusader Kings 2 is your game. There's just nothing else like it. Stellaris, I think, is more of a weird hybrid between CK2 and EU4, a sort of middleground between the avatar-based CK2, and detached rulership in EU4.

 

[CarbonatedFalcon]

Screw it, bought Utopia off the Humble Store. With monthly discount and my 49c credit, It was only $17.50.

Now I still haven't had time to sit down and actually play a game, but I'm sure I will someday. Someday...

 

[Anno]

The scary thing (for our wallets and free time) is how good Paradox is getting at this rapid expansion model. I feel like recently every expansion has to be the last then the next one is one of the best, at worst just "solid".

 

[itschris]

I've been interested in Stellaris since it came out, but after hearing Austin Walker talk about it on the Waypoint podcast, and reading about all the improvements and additions in the latest patch, I finally bought the game (and the Leviathan, Plantoid and Utopia DLCs).

I've only played for 90 minutes, but it's really good so far! A little overwhelming, but I'm playing with the full tutorial enabled and doing things as it tells me to. I just found my first new habitable world, but it seems like it will take a while before I can afford to colonize it.

 

[J3ffro]

This list of CK2 expansions gives a good overview of their features. Old Gods, Way of Life, Legacy of Rome, and Reaper's Due are the ones I'd recommend before anything else, though. But the other expansions are also really good.

And yeah, if you're looking for more political intrigue, Crusader Kings 2 is your game. There's just nothing else like it. Stellaris, I think, is more of a weird hybrid between CK2 and EU4, a sort of middleground between the avatar-based CK2, and detached rulership in EU4.

Wow, with the exception of Reaper's Due, those are all included in the $20 Five Year Anniversary Edition. Sounds like that's the way to go.

 

[CertifiedFP]

Really hope that Diplomacy gets expanded to be more sandboxy in the future.

So many scenarios where I want to tell one of my allies to cut off ties with one of their minor useless allies, on account of me wanting to Anschluss their ass six ways to Sunday.

Or "Demand Remove Outpost" for those cheeky cunts who intentionally cut off parts of my territory with Outpost Sniping.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Hmm, I never noticed how bad the create-an-empire "biography" section is until I tried to use it. Words wrap weirdly and mess with the formatting, it's impossible to create paragraphs, click-selecting a spot doesn't always work, and the arrow keys only work sideways, not vertically.

Improve it pls Paradox. I want to give my empires wonderful biographies.



Also, Utopia impressions (from the empire creation because omg I lose hours there): Hive Mind naming conventions are THE BEST. I loooove it so much; thank you Paradox!

Wow, with the exception of Reaper's Due, those are all included in the $20 Five Year Anniversary Edition. Sounds like that's the way to go.

Definitely.

 

[spiritfox]

The older DLCs are now on sale in Steam too.

 

[xealo]

Do you need the expansions of CK2 or EU4 to get the whole experience, or does the base game shine on its own?

CK2 is mostly fine without any additional DLC as a newbie. The game as a whole is more about roleplaying than conquering the world.

For EU4 you need the Common Sense one due to the way the tech system revamp in 1.18 works, and art of war is essential too. After that it starts getting a bit more optional as to what you feel you need, with cossacks being another good addition.

 

[Aaron D.]

Hmm, I never noticed how bad the create-an-empire "biography" section is until I tried to use it.

Yeah, I took a stab at it for the first time yesterday and found it a bit unwieldy. The good news is that the format cleans up just fine after you confirm your Bio. When it shows up on your character screen later, you have a scroll bar on the side and it's formatted perfectly in the window. Strange that it's not like that in the creation part.

 

[Lister]

The problem wiith CK2 is the obtusness of the UI, coupled witht the density of the systems at play right from the start.

What I love about Stellaris, and what makes it much more approachable are the changes in it's UI (which is still not quite perfect, but it's several steps up form CK2), and that the systems are slowly expanded as your empire grows.

I hope CK3 takes some pointers from Stellaris, even if it remain (as it probably should) a bit more complex.

I'm finally going to get to play some Utopia tonight! Can't wait!

The player base jumped up to, it was in the Top 10 ont he Steam charts yesterday.

 

[Aaron D.]

Well if you consider the progression of tutorials between CK2, EU4, and Stellaris you can certainly see that Paradox is developing greater skill in introducing the new player to their games. Haven't played HoI4 yet, so I can't comment on that. Point is it seems like Paradox is aware of how difficult it can be to get into their grand strat titles, even more so now that they're reaching a broader audience beyond the traditional grognards, are are making intelligent steps in bridging that gap of user accessibility.

But yeah, Stellaris' tutorial is light years ahead of anything they've done in the past. More of a "learn as you play" experience vs. the typical up front info dump they're known for. I also noticed that the CK2 Learning Scenario tutorial they included mid-cycle was way better than the dry modules they started out with when the game launched. Here's hoping CK3 takes it a step even further!

 

[EndcatOmega]

Achievements not working? Been messing around and cloud save or not, even with the starting setup saying they're available there's no ironman fist on the save and in the one game I got far enough to check the build one robot achievement didn't pop.

 

[Mugsy]

Achievements not working? Been messing around and cloud save or not, even with the starting setup saying they're available there's no ironman fist on the save and in the one game I got far enough to check the build one robot achievement didn't pop.

There is some sort of bug with Ironman and achievements, they have a 1.5.1 patch in beta opt in to fix it: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...nks-released-not-for-problem-reports.1010281/

 

[EndcatOmega]

There is some sort of bug with Ironman and achievements, they have a 1.5.1 patch in beta opt in to fix it: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...nks-released-not-for-problem-reports.1010281/

Doesn't seem to work retroactively (understandably) but thanks; I'll use it for the next game if the official patch isn't out by then.

 

[More_Badass]

Thinking of jumping back in. When I had tried it last year, it didn't really click with me, but since then I've gotten really into CK2 and Paradox's style of games.

Given that CK2 is still getting major expansions five years later, I assume we can expect the same game-changing evolutions for Stellaris over the years? The new expansion sounds like a solid start. Is there a roadmap for what they hope to add in the future?

 

[Anno]

Thinking of jumping back in. When I had tried it last year, it didn't really click with me, but since then I've gotten really into CK2 and Paradox's style of games.

Given that CK2 is still getting major expansions five years later, I assume we can expect the same game-changing evolutions for Stellaris over the years? The new expansion sounds like a solid start. Is there a roadmap for what they hope to add in the future?

I don't think anything explicit aside from 1.6 being a smaller patch focusing on bug fixing and some QOL stuff. Aside from that no one knows, but I think most people are expecting the next expansion to focus on overhauling warfare based on some comments. Maybe not just warfare, but getting it into a better place.

Considering how well the game sells I'm sure it's in for at least as long of a tail as CK2 if they keep up the good work. All things equal I would think this is their most popular game.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Stellaris had their best launch ever, I don't think they'll be dropping it any time soon. CK2 basically wrote the book on how they want to develop games from now on: so long as the community is interested (i.e. buying new content) they will keep working on it.

But re: future plans, if there truly aren't any events tailored to Hive Minds, I wonder if the next update will be diplomacy related, alongside an overhaul of events, to pave the way for gender neutral rulers and mechanised starting factions. (Playable AI faction has to be the next expansion, right???)

 

[More_Badass]

I've been interested in Stellaris since it came out, but after hearing Austin Walker talk about it on the Waypoint podcast, and reading about all the improvements and additions in the latest patch, I finally bought the game (and the Leviathan, Plantoid and Utopia DLCs)

Yeah, your post made me listen to the latest podcast and yeah, I'm in

 

[Steel]

On the one hand, I'm surprised that the majority of my mods still work.

On the other hand, at least one of the mods seem to be causing a weird glitch where I can see everything as if I had infinite sensor range. Weird.

 

[DiscoShark]

Not really a utopia specific thing I think but I had a cool little interaction where one of the planets existing on the fringes of my empire was about to get hit by an asteroid. Had my fleet warping in to take it out but the overarching Federation Fleet got their first and took care of it for me. I didn't have control over the federation or its fleet at the time so it came as a complete surprise to me.

 

[spiritfox]

I wish there was a more 'organic' version of the Hive Mind name list. The current one sounds a little too 'artificial'.

 

[Lister]

So good!!!

I've also got the Mass Effect and Interstellar soundtrack mods turned on. Ready to sink in for the next 3 hours.

 

[CertifiedFP]

Protip: Don't use the ingame bio editor. Bios are stored in plaintext in a Custom Empires file in your Documents folder and can be edited from there instead. Well, everything about custom Empires is plaintext, actually. Makes them easy to share.

Anyway, here's the Empire I built for Utopia and am about to start now that I've gotten familiar with the changes.

"The Atrians rapidly developed on the temperate world of Atria from genemodding experiments done by the long-since collapsed and extinct Dominion of Serris on various species abducted from around the galaxy in their efforts to cure an epidemic plague of neural atrophy afflicting their species. In the case of the Atrians, High-Primate Mammalians from Sol III - Soon after the fall of the Dominion, Atrian societies began to form, and with them, the Church of Serris. 2,200 years ago, the Kingdom of Kellhas and the Church of Serris lead a crusade against all of Atria in a war of unification. Victorious, they molded all of Atria into an empire under their Absolutist vision, established a new calendar, and set their sights on expanding their rule to all territory once held by the Dominion."

tl;dr genemodded Ubermensch humans with a very unhealthy Precursor obsession. Should be fun to roleplay, especially handling once I come into contact with Earth or the Commonwealth.

EDIT:

Well that backstory worked out quite well. Earth happens to be right next door to Atria.

 

[Trickster]

Factions and unrest is kinda annoying for me so far.

With factions, I feel like I'm pretty much guaranteed to end up with a lot of unhappy pops. You end up with conflicting factions seemingly no matter what. And suppressing a faction doesn't seem to do much. It might mean that fewer goes for that factions than there otherwise would have. But I still end up with more pops in those factions as my empire grows. And suppressing them is just turning them into instant unhappy pops.

Integrating xeno species also instantly added a faction that probably half of them joined, who want to be treated better.

As for unrest. I integrate the new race into my empire, on paper they weren't too negatively inclined towards my empire ethics before integration. The moment I integrate them, bam, half join that faction with very different views, and half my new race is now unhappy as hell. This then leads to large unrest, which seems to be mainly be solved by have a standing army on the planet. Which I can't make for some reason, neither in the planets in my added sectors or the ones I have direct control over. No idea why.

 

[Aaron D.]

Protip: Don't use the ingame bio editor. Bios are stored in plaintext in a Custom Empires file in your Documents folder and can be edited from there instead. Well, everything about custom Empires is plaintext, actually. Makes them easy to share.

Oh man, that's a great tip.

Here's my starting race of space-hippies.

After the near collapse of the human civilization in the early 21st century, the scattered surviving nations were forced to consider how extremist nationalism had fractured their global society and plunged them into nuclear oblivion. With a new-found commitment to unify the scant few who remained, what started as simple survival instincts in turn brought about an age of enlightenment. The greatest minds were brought together to forge a new vision for the species. One that valued every member of society and brought forth their best qualities. The inclusiveness and diverse perspectives that followed brought about rapid advances in culture and sciences. Suddenly traditional barriers to progress were stripped away and it wasn't long before the Earth's people took to the stars. With a thirst for discovery and learning, armed with full knowledge of their failed past, they reached into the beyond witha hope for harmonious alliances within the galactic communty at large.