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So here's a fun tip. Do you want to get to the "Crusader Kings" political stage of the game without playing on fast forward for a full real life day? If so, open the console and type "mature_galaxy". It simulates 100 years of history. Note that the game might lock up since it's...Y'know, simulating 100 years of history.
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Jan 20, 2017 19:01
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So if people are getting bored with the game a game with lots of human nations is pretty fun. I have a bunch of mods installed to expand race portraits and name lists and the area immediately around my ringworld starting point is surrounded by squabbling human nations that are slowly being encroached on by a bunch of aliens and the Covenant. I'm slowly building the whole thing up into a human federation and absorbing the ones that aren't willing to play along with the idea of a unified humanity. Like those expansionistic motherfuckers from Asimov's Foundation books.  It makes for an entertaining early game goal. Especially when the game apparently decided to spawn xenophobic alien empires and fanatical purifiers everywhere on a 25% planet habitability map.Also mentioning it again but More AI Personalities (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=701432146) really needs to be in the OP. It adds way more dimensions to the game. You have everything from races that are actually designed to be insidious opportunists that capitalize on military weakness, to a piratical slaver persona that basically sells off slaves, to an aspiring precursor personality type that want to basically set themselves up as a precursor dominating other races technologically through centuries of political maneuvering, to crazier one off rare personality types like a clearly parasitic race of people puppeteering fungoids that are described as "Frenzied Breeders" and are perfectly happy to put the Blorg to shame in invading people to get "closer" to them. 
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Jan 22, 2017 17:42
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DatonKallandor posted:Range and speed of ships simply doesn't matter enough because we have no control over fights. If having more speed and range meant you could actually kite things, then yeah those would be worthwhile stats to tweak to balance out the different weapons. It's weird because the option to give us control is in the files currently. There's code that allows for the tactics ships use to be set. It's just not made available to players since all that's available in vanilla is the usual combat computer types. Automated Ship Behaviors fixes this at least. It lets you set both tactics and the distance they're executed at. Archonex fucked around with this message at 02:59 on Jan 23, 2017 |
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Jan 23, 2017 02:53
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Drone_Fragger posted:Beat a larger, aggressive empire early on by baiting their 2k stack onto my 1k stack outside of a station. Viva la space bugs When that happens just open the console and type warscore 100. Alternatively: It's never mentioned anywhere but you can also blockade every planet they have with a ship to give you a significant warscore bonus. This is usually enough to force a surrender right off. I didn't even know this was a feature until I chanced across it. Which makes me wonder if the food import/export thing in the upcoming patch is actually a late feature to be added in that was planned way back since the AI can tell when it's getting blockaded and surrender if it's a risk to their health. SkySteak posted:So how is Alphamod? Is it a completely new experience or does it just simply build upon more of the game? Alphamod is 100% a must have. It's basically several paid content expansions worth of content rolled into one gigantic mod that expands on the content that's there and add all new theme appropriate content for the game. However, that does mean it's way more complex than the base game, since there's new resources and mechanics to track. It also enables a lot of things that are in the base game but aren't available to actually use for some unfathomable reason. Like the ability to eventually tech up to Fallen Empire levels of power and build equivalent buildings. Or create an actual economy within your nation. I'd treat it as a preview of what the game will look like in a few years if it gets CK2 levels of support. Which it had better because holy gently caress this game has potential. If you pick up the Alphamod submods to expand the available content then it can do a lot of stuff that other mods just don't do or require a ton of compatibility patches to get working. Late game the submods allow for actual rebellions and new races to appear along with all new habitable world types and features like, constructable orbital habitats, asteroid colonies, high orbit gas planet harvesting, new xeno fauna, etc, etc. Which means it's actually fun to play a multi-century game since you have something to do other than just conquer constantly. The Divided Loyalties submod in particular is especially useful for expanding the mid to late game content since it'll add political factions to the game. Labor unions, pirate cartels, and even corporations and trade guilds that you interact with within your nation all show up the deeper into a game you go. And I do mean that literally, the further you go into the game the more you'll see new faction types pop up. You won't see a trade guild until you actually build an economic building that lets planets trade with each other. If a planet is centered around generic economy stuff and not power a corporation or trade guild may eventually dominate the market on that planet or sector and create a megacorp that has a voice within your empire and needs to be handled as a political faction. The options for the factions are way more interesting than vanilla ones too. The megacorp for instance has the usual suppression options, but you can also work with it. Or even give it sole custody of the planet in exchange for staying as part of the empire. This makes it a vassal nation and has it's own downsides and upsides. The least of which is that a treacherous and ambitious megacorp will gently caress with you if it gets the chance. The best part about the Divided Loyalties submod is that the factions aren't all negatives like they are in vanilla. It's useful to keep a mining union around for instance since you can throw them a bone every now and then to increase worker productivity. However if you treat them badly then they start making problems. It's far deeper than the vanilla factions are and a good example of what I mean about Alphamod increasing the depth of the game. If you get Alphamod though I recommend also just taking the plunge and getting Fallen Empires Expanded, the Ethics and Government mod (with alphamod's patch), NSC and it's appropriate compatibility mods, and Extra Events, More Events, and Civilian Trade. They fill out the game to where it feels like it's a complete galaxy sim. Or at least as complete as you can get at this stage. As a plus, Civilian Trade also uses models that are already in the game. Turns out those tankers are part of the civilian ships that aren't enabled yet. Apparently civilian trade and cargo hauling between planets was planned but never put in for some reason? Edit: If you're looking for other mods then Relics of a Fallen Empire, Ringworld Restoration, and the Megastructures mod all are great fluff content additions. None of them are necessary but they add a lot of character to the mid to late game. Archonex fucked around with this message at 01:27 on Jan 25, 2017 |
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Jan 25, 2017 01:00
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Also, Gods and Guardians is a great "fluff content" mod that actually makes Observation Posts and primitive species have more content than just being society research or vassal producers. It's probably a must have too if you're wanting to increase the depth of the content. Honestly, I could type up a massive post on what mods are worth getting. There's a huge number of them out there. Some of which aren't immediately evident. Stellaris has a pretty awesome mod community for how rough of a start it had content wise. Not sure if there's any interest in putting it in the OP or anyone even using it though.
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Jan 25, 2017 01:21
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CrazyTolradi posted:I wish AI personality could affect how much warscore they'd be willing to white peace or capitulate to demands on. Like, zealots would just keep fighting to the bitter end, pacifists would try to white peace earlier and capitulate earlier than other personalities would. Mods also fix this, funnily enough. The expanded personalities mod is a lifesaver and adds a lot of replayability to the politics end of the game. Though it requires knowing how the new personalities are assigned if you don't want to deal with an element of randomness. That's no different from the vanilla ethics and personality interaction though. Ditto for the ethics and government mod affecting wars. Though it doesn't appear so at first glance. Since it expands on the ethics and government end of the game it actually makes war be a negative for some factions depending on their ethics and government type. Pacifists actually get some hefty economic bonuses for being at peace and negatives for being at war or having a rivalry going, for instance. This means that pacifists are more likely to surrender quickly, assuming you aren't continually eating their worlds or considering purging them. If you're up against a race of pacifists in that mod and have a track record of purging species they will fight to the bitter end no matter what. Hell, you pretty much have to blockade their planets and take each one with armies before they'll capitulate since they know they're fighting for their right to exist and not just a few planets or a trade sanction or whatever. Archonex fucked around with this message at 01:34 on Jan 25, 2017 |
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Jan 25, 2017 01:28
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Swedish Horror posted:Haven't played with mods in Stellaris before, guess I'm gonna have to give it a shot. Are all the alphamod submods worth getting? Pretty much. Xeno Fauna is probably the least necessary one and you can skip over it entirely if you want. It adds some hard to get perks that aren't really necessary unless you're big on having more depth to your strategic resources.
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Jan 25, 2017 01:48
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SkySteak posted:Hey thank you for that. I was just going to quickly ask if you had a link to that Ethics and Government mod. Also do you know how well/badly Alphamod plays with ISBS mods? They had some really fun stuff relating to Doomsday weapons and such so I would love to have that in still. There are compatibility mods that make most of the large mods work together. I'd recommend NSC over ISB's core mod though. You can grab the graphics expansion and doomsday weapon stuff from Improved Space Battles and then use NSC for actual new ship types and all the new features it introduces. The core features it has are way better than what ISB's core mod has from what i've experienced. Especially if you pick up Automated Ship Behaviors so you can customize how ships act in combat. It's just harder to set up since the new flagship, dreadnought, and other ship classes require compatibility patches with most ship mods that aren't vanilla. Though those already exist and are linked on NSC's page. It even has a patch to let ISB and it's submods to play well with it. Regardless, here's the Ethics and Government mod. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=738611313 Alphamod should have the compatibility patch on their mod page. You'll need that too to run it properly. Archonex fucked around with this message at 04:33 on Jan 25, 2017 |
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Jan 25, 2017 04:26
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Bholder posted:Since we are talking about mods and alphamod in particular, how does it handle the AI? It integrates them pretty well. I've noticed that different nations seem to have different focuses on different buildings. I'm assuming it has to do with what technologies they research, along with ideology.
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Jan 25, 2017 05:36
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CrazyTolradi posted:Have you seen these impact sector AI in anyway? Yeah. My sector's have built up the new buildings. The AI seems capable of using the buildings on that front as well. Just keep in mind that the usual sector bugs are there. If you have robots on for instance they might not do anything. That has nothing to do with the mod though. I would suggest making some of the more unique specialist buildings on the planet yourself. Then making it so that tile redevelopment is turned off. That way there's no risk of a research or percentage bonus to one of the planet's resource outputs getting wiped out by the sector AI being a bit dim. It kind of sucks to have some massive research or energy producer get unoptimized because the sector AI isn't smart enough to understand that a 10% increase in all energy outputs to every building is more than a single power plant. Especially if you're fighting an uphill battle. Though, again, that's another issue that's not really the mod's fault. Archonex fucked around with this message at 05:59 on Jan 25, 2017 |
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Jan 25, 2017 05:45
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ProfessorCirno posted:Just to throw it out there, one other flaw in AlphaMod is that everything it adds is goddamn hideously ugly. Does it add anything outside of those super tiny planetary buildings graphically though? I can't think of much else besides that.
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Jan 26, 2017 06:11
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Zurai posted:The only thing that bothers me with AlphaMod is the proliferation of useless "strategic resources" which only exist to give you 8 different kind of farms which are all worse than the base game hydroponic farms. I wish I could get everything from AlphaMod except the water/ice/biomass/actinides/natural fuel resources and buildings. There's not that many strategic resources that don't offer a direct bonus, really. The resources that have no direct bonus actually do serve a purpose later on in the game. Once you start teching to the mid to late game a fair number of them can be used to either min-max the resource output on a planet via special end of building chain bonuses or unlock some really powerful buildings or techs via converting them over into a super powerful strategic resource that usually requires refining earlier tier resources. That being said the natural fuel sourcer and natural fuel factory could be safely tossed. It's a junk item which only has the "benefit" that it's the only building in the game that gives you both energy and minerals, albeit at a lower rate. It only really has a use early on when you can't or haven't colonized many planets yet. And it costs a strategic resource that's invaluable later on to get microfission cores (Which give colossal bonuses if you know what to do with them.) and generally aren't as good as just speccing directly into either a mine or power plant. I think the only reason it's in is because it lets you harvest almost all the early to mid game resources that can possibly show up on a tile. Which is probably the only way to do that mechanically at the moment. That being said I will say that Alphamod adds a lot more complexity to the game. I really don't recommend it if you're looking for a simplified experience. The idea behind it seems to be to add more depth via new features and increasing the complexity of some currently simple features to be par on par with more hardcore 4x games. It works within Stellaris, however it's probably not for everyone. Archonex fucked around with this message at 06:30 on Jan 26, 2017 |
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Jan 26, 2017 06:22
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Zurai posted:Yes, there are. Almost none of the couple dozen resources Alphamod adds provide a bonus directly. They're almost exclusively used as pre-requisites for buildings, which is a pain because sector AI is poo poo at that stuff. You must have missed some techs or something somewhere then, because none of that is true. Actinides act as a massive energy generator throughout the game from a 1 per planet building that can be built on water resource tiles that gives about 12 energy per building. Water and ice can be used for a slightly similar bonus (About 10 energy per building I think.) if used to build a Macro Steam Plant on ice tiles. Both decrease planet habitability when built to counter their massive energy bonuses. Both are also obviously massively useful if you do the work to get them set up. Water is also used as a component resource for many buildings. As is natural fuels. Biomass sourcing buildings let you transfer the biomass off planet into a building that can give you somewhere in the range of 6-12 food. I'd need to build one again to check the exact number since the last one I made got demolished about an hour before you made your post. They're very useful for smaller planets where you don't want to waste tiles on too many farms. Natural fuel is used for a bunch of different mid to late game stuff. Of the most important is the fusion plants you mentioned, which if you have enough actinides, water, and natural fuels then can be upgraded to the point where they give you a micro-fission core resource. Which can be used to build buildings that are extremely powerful. We're talking stuff like a building that gives a 20% output bonus to all science types on a planet. Or an expensive one per planet building that increases naval capacity by ten percent and adds another core sector to your max count. Micro-fission cores are basically one of the rewards for playing the Anno style resource refinement game. Fission and their upgraded version cold fusion plants also act as a potential alternate energy generator early on that can be slightly stronger depending on where you take your tech options. Natural fuel factories are what are used to give both minerals and energy at the cost of a 1% habitability decrease per factory. I can say all of that for certain since I am literally looking at the game right now. That includes a low tech empire's planet that has stacked a bunch of natural fuel fueled factories to counter the fact that it has only three planets left. I hate to say it, but it sounds like you didn't really explore the mod's features. Granted, the mod really needs a manual at this point given how much stuff it adds in. Archonex fucked around with this message at 07:30 on Jan 26, 2017 |
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Jan 26, 2017 07:19
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Zurai posted:I'm aware of everything you mentioned. Where we're differing is the point where I said "they don't justify their existence". Very little of what you mentioned is actually very impressive to me. Oh boy, a building that generates 12 energy. That's good, don't get me wrong, but it's not interesting. It's just slightly higher numbers for increased pain-in-the-rear end-ness. That's what most of AlphaMod's strategic resource stuff adds. Take Frontier Provisioners, for example. They require water and energy, make an infinitesimal amount of food and generate nutrient bars (a strategic resource that does nothing by itself). You can use those nutrient bars to make pointless station modules or to make Frontier Towns in colonies; Frontier Towns are pretty good (and upgrade into some really cool poo poo) but can only be built on ... planets that already have a Frontier Provisioner anyway. If the argument is that it's not interesting then i'm not sure what I can say. Special buildings and resource chains like that make it so that the various empires actually have a reason to squabble over resources. Since having them gives a fairly large bonus if you know how to use them. The resource system as a whole ought to be considered flawed by that logic though. Since the stuff you mention is just as present in the vanilla game. It's just that the amount of bonuses you can get out of a planet are capped at a much lower rate due to the lower complexity of the economy game on planets without a mod to add some more depth to it. It's a choice between the generic "there are only buildings that give +1 more energy at each tier" system that vanilla offers or something that actually lets you dicker about and try to get more involved in that portion of the game.. I have to disagree that it's pointless complexity however. It does alter the way the game is played along with how you and the AI interact with each other. I've had empires try to snatch up worlds from me that had vital resources we both needed, something I wouldn't let them take without as much of a fight in vanilla since the only real resources are mostly one off "you get one of these and you have a global bonus forever" sort of deal. The really, really, really, rare resources you didn't mention like sandworm spice and it's refined variants can give pretty huge buffs too. The former gives you more trait points for genetic engineering. Which is huge if you use them right. The refined version can super charge your empire's FTL capability depending on the FTL type letting you hop straight into an empire. They don't break the game over your knee but they are pretty big bonuses if you can find a planet that has them and get your hands on them. The result of all these new resources that act as a sort of pseudo minerals or energy resource instead of a buffing resource means that Alphamod actually adds more on the inter-empire end of things due to needing to plot your expansion properly and play a more complex game of grabbing planets than just "colonize everything forever in an outward circle and only give a poo poo at what the size of a planet is". Archonex fucked around with this message at 07:57 on Jan 26, 2017 |
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Jan 26, 2017 07:40
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Zurai posted:Empires aren't going to squabble over water, ice, natural fuels, biomass, or actinides, since those are all extremely plentiful and can be generated on-planet and by mining stations (except Biomass for the latter). My empires tend to have literally dozens of water, ice, and fuels, and that's without specifically building resource generators for them. Except they do. Once empires stabilize (or if they start cramped together) some of the personality types start eyeing up their neighbors depending on their resource allotment. I've instantly obtained some nightmarish border friction penalties because I ganked two systems out from under another empire with a frontier station. One had living metal in it and the other was loaded to the gills with various minor strategic resources alphamod adds. They declared war on me a month or two later and beelined to the nearby planet I had set up so I could remove the station. Archonex fucked around with this message at 07:52 on Jan 26, 2017 |
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Jan 26, 2017 07:48
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THE loving MOON posted:Is there a full on Dune mod out there? I'm thinking a bunch of bickering factions (Bene Geserits, Tleilaxu, Ix) with the synchronized worlds way out on the fringes of the galaxy building their poo poo up far away from the other factions. That'd be pretty cool. There used to be one that was in development. I have no idea if it's up to date or not however. It's pretty easy to check either way. Stellaris's main mod community is pretty much located on the Workshop. So you can just type Dune in there and see what comes up.
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Jan 26, 2017 07:56
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Sun Wu Kampf posted:I'd like to see some expansion of the XCom event chains in this game, that could eventually end up with a new, hostile to you stellar nation forming. So basically what would happen if XCom: Interceptor got crossed with Stellaris? 
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Jan 26, 2017 08:06
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Libluini posted:I've read the dev diary. Answer: No you can't, habitats are handled like planets in space and since there aren't ways to destroy a planet, there also aren't ways to destroy a space habitat. Going off of the orbital mod out there this isn't a bad thing. Unless they're programmed otherwise empires love to target orbitals. They're basically war crimes magnets due to a lack of defenses. I've got three xenophobic empires in my current game nearby that love purging that I actually went to the trouble of befriending just so i'd never have to worry about them nuking the crap out of any of my orbital habitats and butchering tons of pops in the process. Mind, the fact that orbitals are currently able to be put in the game and attackable means that it's probably going to be a mod to do it eventually. Likely it'll end up as most features like that do, if the modders use their head. You'll just have a "do you want to commit this atrocity?" policy option that lets your empire opt to target them.
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Jan 26, 2017 18:24
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Where are the mod files kept? I want to make an edited version of the Eve mod to be compatible with NSC (It has all the ship types already, so you can't use it and any other mod that supports NSC without breaking the game.) but I can't find the editable data files.
Archonex fucked around with this message at 07:28 on Jan 31, 2017 |
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Jan 31, 2017 07:25
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GotLag posted:\steamapps\workshop\content\281990\ Cheers. Bold Robot posted:This is true, but it's almost never worth the effort to figure out what your opponent is using and then make a design to counter it. The game gives poor feedback on what an enemy is using, then you have to figure out what counters that, make a new design, maybe research components based on what you do or don't have, take the time and spend the resources to get your fleet ready - it all adds up to a huge ball of It'd be worth it to create varied ships if the game had some more complexity and control offered to the player on the combat end. I hate to harp on mods fixing and expanding vanilla features with Wiz checking out the thread, but NSC and ASB show this off pretty well. NSC expands the late game ship gameplay and adds more depth to the combat system while ASB adds in the ability to customize exactly how ships act in combat (IE: Charge, flank, hit and run, escort larger ships, etc, etc, etc.) and at what distance they start it at. A group of late game corvettes in a game using ASB are a hell of a lot more potentially dangerous than vanilla ones if designed right. A squadron of corvettes designed to execute a hit and run maneuver with missiles or torpedoes while using afterburners will easily punch 2-4x times above what their weight is provided they have enough shields to get in and out of the kill zone. Having some time to recharge their shields means they have more survival time in battle, which means that they can get more shots in assuming the enemy is primarily rolling with closer range weaponry. They're also useful for slowing down and distracting fleets while you prep for a fight, since fleets will be obliged to chase them down and slowly surround them while they harass them at a distance. Likewise, with NSC and it's many new capital and super-capital ship types it pays to keep an array of weaponry on hand just in case you run into a different fleet type than what you're used too. After all, there's lots of weapon slots available, and it proliferates some of the rarer weapon types to more end game ships. So having a weapon specifically designed to burrow through armor is much more viable than just building for power. Of course, seeing as how they're new cap and super-cap ship types it also preserves the early and mid game, while adding some depth to the later mid to late game. The higher cap on ship types and sizes also means that scouting out a fleet type is one of the more effective ways to counter an opponent that has more advancements in voidcraft tech than you do. Something NSC, ASB, and Alphamod's Fleet Mod also do is add more weapons that can be shot down by point defenses, along with rebalances the existing damage distribution of some weapon types so you have more reason to actually roll with weapon types that aren't just "energy weapons forever". I think it's Fleetmod that also adds a "swarmer" missile type that shoots slower but sends a whole swarm of missiles at a target too. It helps to keep missiles viable into the end game since you can't just go into a fight with maybe 3 point defense carrying ships tops and expect to negate their weapons. NSC also adds a special "Frigate" type ship class that can optionally be kitted out with a "flak" type weapon that's basically a torpedo sized suped up point defense that can also shoot ships if nothing is nearby. Doing so encourages you to not just roll in with maxed out military strength ships if you want to avoid casualties (Which you do want to avoid, since the new end game ships can get loving expensive.). Couple that with most end game NSC ship class types being able to fit at least one ship section with a hangar group and you have plenty of reason to use the sensor stations to assess fleet composition before invading. Along with using earlier ship classes like modern day fleet escorts for force projection ships and heavier bombardment ships. Really, the game just needs a bit more complexity on that end. This upcoming patch looks like it's at least adding the framework for it with the implied spy/sensor stations though. So i'm not too worried. Archonex fucked around with this message at 02:56 on Feb 1, 2017 |
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Jan 31, 2017 22:56
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that just isn't necessary if you design your ships to be well-rounded.
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Coolguye posted:i think you might need a break Nah, he's at least right about there being some really buggy/wonky things in the game still. It's not something to get that upset about though. Some stuff i've noticed that messed up: Vassals are completely hosed balance-wise. Either they aren't really counting power properly or they actually get opinion modifiers that make them hate you (and scale quite a bit) the stronger you are than them. This means that it makes far more sense to either liberate or outright take over a planet in the base game since most vassals will immediately become disloyal and do absolutely nothing trade-wise if you're at the mid to late game. The modifier appears to also be an aggregate of all vassals and possibly protectorates too. It also means that all of your vassals will likely be more likely to rebel when you're able to effortlessly crush them, instead of when you're weak. Which makes no sense. It looks like the opinion modifier is literally backwards in how it's intended to work. Even if it's reversed so that weak=a good time to rebel it doesn't change the fact that it's a bit generalized. Simply checking power in favor of policy, past actions to other vassals, possible threats (I've yet to see any vassals do this, even when there's an AE on our doorstep.), etc, etc would be better. I'm really not sure what the point of that modifier is given it's current function. It just makes it so that it's better to liberate rather than vassalize since vassals will inevitably turn on you in some way. Edit: And apparently there's no longer a mod that directly fixes it too. The only time that i've seen one try to address it is with the Improved Populations mod that enables actual population and ethos based rebellions springing up in your empire. Though that's outside the scope of the game as it stands in vanilla. Archonex fucked around with this message at 06:42 on Feb 1, 2017 |
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Feb 1, 2017 05:16
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Magil Zeal posted:It's annoying but easy to fix, just split 1 federation ship into a new fleet and move all the ships from the old fleet to the new one. It seems like the last order given before you get control gets stuck somehow in the federation fleet queue and you can fix it by making it a "new" fleet. Wait? That's an order related bug? I thought the AI was just being a dick and refusing to stop sending orders to the fleet.
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Feb 1, 2017 12:41
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I wonder of this means that FE's are going to get new behaviors? It's hard to hold a superior attitude while the other guy is literally building ringworlds while yours is crumbling around you. 
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Feb 2, 2017 17:09
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Baronjutter posted:Little disappointed you can't live inside a dyson sphere, it's just for collecting energy. Even just the "staff" for a facility like that would be a few pops. Same with the science station, it's basically an orbital science city, should have some pops. But the whole pop system isn't really friendly to the idea of things like mega-structures and outposts that contain a pop or two as staff/workers. To be fair, the dyson sphere picture isn't the type that looks to be survivable. It's looks like a giant glass building surrounding the sun. It'd probably get pretty toasty for most people that live in there. Clearly that means that alternate life forms that can survive in radiation heavy environments are confirmed.
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Feb 2, 2017 17:14
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Aethernet posted:Expansion looks fantastic. Having massive vanity projects that stir up diplomacy in the late game will be tremendous fun. The Sentry looks incredibly handy - ringworlds look so much less attractive by comparison. Do we know if you can build more than one ring world? Because if it's feasible to do so then yeah, i'd pick the ring world over the Sentry. You could literally just huddle up in one corner of the galaxy with a dozen ring worlds producing tech, minerals, and energy and watch the rest of the galaxy burn until it was time to intervene. Why squabble over worlds and resources when you can just build most of them? Y'know, things that a Fallen Empire does. Edit: The Megastructures mod and ring world creation mod is a good preview of this. Megastructures in particular adds in ring worlds along with some other neat ideas that aren't featured in the expansion. Usually by the time i've gotten to the point where I can build multiple ring worlds the affairs of the rest of the galaxy seem pretty pointless, barring them trying to nab a rare resource I want or them loving with my agenda in some way. After all, why bother with a bunch of nations wielding cruisers when I can field an armada of super dreadnoughts, battleships, battlecruisers, and insane/horrific world destroying super weapons from ISB? Everyone else does what I want them to do anyways since I could just blow them to heck and back. Politics at that point becomes an issue of dealing with aggressive AE's, keeping good relations with the xenophile AE if it's around, and keeping remaining FE's complacent while they  from the ruins of their empire.Usually that's around the time the Unbidden show up. Or there's a huge AI revolt. Or the Prethoryn come screaming into a section of the galaxy nearby.
Archonex fucked around with this message at 17:53 on Feb 2, 2017 |
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Feb 2, 2017 17:38
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ModernMajorGeneral posted:Does this mean picking your species world type is no longer just cosmetic now? Frozen worlds aren't inhabitable in vanilla. There's a mod that deals with this by making them colonizable but otherwise i'd imagine that it'd kill everyone in the system. Edit: drat, beaten. Beaten by one of the devs, in fact. Archonex fucked around with this message at 17:51 on Feb 2, 2017 |
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Feb 2, 2017 17:46
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Splicer posted:I really like the ever increasing "He who fights monsters" nature of this game. Y'know, in my modded game it got to the point where I was bombarding a purge loving xenophobic AE and their thralls into submission before releasing chemicals into the atmosphere of their planets that would brainwash them into being pacifistic xenophiles before I stepped back and realized that my civilization might have crossed the moral event horizon a few times in stopping them. At that point you had might as well just check out of the galaxy for a few centuries while the opinion malus ticks down and everyone forgets that you literally mind raped half the galaxy into loving the rest of it. Cue me building ring worlds and adapting a policy of militant isolationism like the AE I just took out. Surely nothing will go wrong with that plan, right?
Archonex fucked around with this message at 18:48 on Feb 2, 2017 |
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Feb 2, 2017 18:00
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Baronjutter posted:You can of course annex chunks of an empire then make them a vassal after, it would just be nice to have a middle ground between liberation and annex. Create puppet, create buffer, establish protectorate. Something a non-extreme pacifist could physically do but at the cost of pissing off their pops. Improved Populations has a neat feature where if an ethos attached to the population becomes dominant it'll either try to take over the country and change the ethos via a coup or election or outright rebel and form a splinter state with a new AI personality and government type. I've seen it work on everything from early game oppressive empires with aliens in it to even FE's having part of their populace get fed up with their poo poo and decide to just do their own thing and be part of the intergalactic community as a normal nation. It'd be pretty good as an alternative. Instead of waging outright war you can just sanction the hell out of them and annihilate their capacity to keep the populace happy until they say the gently caress with it and switch to something a bit more open to diplomacy.
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Feb 2, 2017 20:19
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Wiz posted:Allow me to explain the biggest problem with something like peaceful annexation of planets through culture: Everyone loves it when they're the one getting planets flipped to them... but when it's the other way around? Yeah, no, not so much. Yeah, having what's essentially a culture output meter that flatly determines whether a planet belongs to ____ empire or _____ nation like in Gal Civ would be kind of a pain to deal with. Ditto with someone building a galactic rock stage or hyper-entertainment complex or whatever. That's just shifting the culture meter issue over to a more abstract level without considering the actual populations of the planet in question. I do like some of the ethos related ideas that IP introduces however. IP isn't perfect by any means but a few of the featured mods within it have some neat takes on the idea of a "culture war". It keeps the galaxy fresh and opens up opportunities to expand your influence beyond warfare as the game goes on and populations start migrating around. As it is in vanilla ethics seem to mostly be important on the population end to determine happiness and productivity. Actually having them organize and try to change things within the government (and even change the government if they're radically different) is a neat idea. Without some way to have political refugees fleeing a country or having activist pops that try to change things I don't see how it'd be too balanced in its current format, however. Otherwise without the ability to migrate they'd just hang around forever and gently caress things up until they were purged, got their way, or had their ethics altered. Having an expanded policy section and factoring in ethics to a planet/population's loyalty could also mean that some factions are focused around policy changes too. IE: If you had a major spiritualist/religious group within your empire that was also xenophobic they might agitate to ban ____ race or synthetics from core worlds or something similar. Or as another example a pro-capitalist/materialist group agitating for free trade and a lack of tariffs once an interplanetary trade system via ships and the like is in. Stuff that'd expand on the existing independence/slavery factions. It'd also open up an opportunity for a new method of conflict outside of the warfare and the current diplomacy system. Though I guess that's a whole other bag of issues. Archonex fucked around with this message at 22:24 on Feb 2, 2017 |
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Feb 2, 2017 21:51
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GunnerJ posted:Wait, you can release planets/systems as vassals? How did I miss this. If they have a faction agitating for independence you can grant it through the faction window. Releasing them doesn't seem to be that beneficial a lot of the time though. If there's a faction agitating for independence it probably means they don't get along well enough with your empire yet to not be disloyal. Though maybe other people have had different experiences? Archonex fucked around with this message at 22:05 on Feb 2, 2017 |
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Feb 2, 2017 22:02
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Deceitful Penguin posted:Huh. I cannot believe there isn't a modrace pack with all the countries It's in english too, if the front page from earlier today is any indication. The UNSC ship pack from Halo is the best though.  It's even NSC compatible. The detail on it is nuts. I especially like all the little things in the pack, like the fact that later tier ships are more ships built around gigantic gently caress off guns A-10 Warthog style rather than just being guns attached to ships. Archonex fucked around with this message at 08:14 on Feb 3, 2017 |
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Feb 3, 2017 02:07
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So my latest game is interesting. I decided to do a gimmick run with various settings added into one giant galaxy and it's just an utter mess of politics. Like about half the galaxy is filled with xenophobic humans of various settings and alien nations. Which means they also hate other humans. Also because I downloaded the two United mod packs I have a ton of races from other settings that can use the traits they have in that. It's gotten to the point where even Fanatical Purifiers and the (modded) scaled up version of that Psychotic Hordes have become vassals and tributaries to all these xenophobic empires just crashing into each other over and over again. Not helping things is that I have that synthetic mod and decided to use United Races/Traits to recreate a Cylon knockoff. Except they're considered so utterly repugnant by other empires that any migration with them to an empire that hasn't invested in tech to make their populace happy can potentially cause them to cause a minor rebellion due to how hated they are. Which causes a split off empire to form if it wins thanks to Improved Populations. I have this weird thing going where there's a Federation between my militaristic megacorporation that's slowly turning into an outright empire, the Jedi, a race of aliens known as the Coruscanti, and the humans from Star Trek. Basically the only people in my area of the galaxy that aren't hate filled bastards that look at other people as slaves and cannon fodder. How the hell do you get people to actually join your Federation though? I have people nearby that could theoretically join it, but they're hovering at an infuriating -5 to -7 no matter what I do. It was doable to make a huge Federation that'd eventually curb stomp even AE's as a Xenophile but i'm actively working with a -.25 negative trust here as it is. So far i've just contented myself with adding everyone I meet into protectorates so they don't get eaten when the Unbidden/Prethoryn/AI comes (All will eventually come. Hence me wanting to preserve as many of them as possible/roll them into my empire. I'm looking to weather the storm.). Is that what I should be focusing on instead of building a Federation as a non-xenophile empire? Archonex fucked around with this message at 15:34 on Feb 5, 2017 |
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Feb 5, 2017 15:31
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These new features have actually got me looking forwards to 1.5. This is the sort of neat randomized content that helps increase replayability. I wonder if NPC empires can get these events though? Do they even have code for engaging with events similar to what can pop up for players? Having my neighbors or close allies slowly get hjijacked by Archonex fucked around with this message at 16:04 on Feb 7, 2017 |
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Feb 7, 2017 16:01
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GlyphGryph posted:Prethoryn as they are now would probably have to be the result of somehow exploring another galaxy and letting them know you are here and available to devour. Yeah, the Prethoryn appear to be based off the Tyranids from WH40K. IE: The horrific galaxy eating race that was one of WH40K's equivalent of an end game crisis in Stellaris... until the Imperium realized that the endless swarms they just barely fought off were just a few scout fleets and hive queen equivalents mindlessly wandering the dark spaces between galaxies to find something new to eat. The real galaxy devouring armada of space monsters was just as big as something that eats galaxies would be, and it's probably on it's way to the Milky Way. Given that we can't explore other galaxies and the Unbidden look like they might be getting some interactivity added maybe we'll end up being able to see Archonex fucked around with this message at 19:36 on Feb 7, 2017 |
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Feb 7, 2017 19:24
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Mister Adequate posted:The current estimation by the Strategic Collective is that the Imperium's mobilization would have to increase 500% to stand a realistic chance of resisting the full might of the Tyranids. That would entail every single living person in three of the five Segmentae. I want Prethoryn to be that dangerous and enduring a threat in Stellaris, requiring a total galactic mobilization to beat Imagine if we get an expansion that lets multiple concurrent galaxies run in a single game once the game has several years worth of supporting DLC. Y'know, just do what most sci-fi series like Stargate and Mass Effect do and give the player/ai empires the option to have the game be about exploring all new galaxies once you're all set up in your home galaxy and want to set your sights further. Or to just find a new place to survive if poo poo goes south like in Mass Effect. Sending an ark ship containing your species to a new galaxy only to discover that this galaxy was once filled with it's own vibrant empires only to be overrun and converted into infested planets, barren death worlds, and various solar debris from all the insane doomsday weapons getting deployed as every empire fought a grueling war and lost would be a pants making GBS threads moment. Especially if it was possible to trace back where the ark ship came from if the Prethoryn analyzed the debris. Would really nail the whole "galactic horror" thing the Tyranids represent if a game goes really badly. Yeah, they're from another galaxy. And another galaxy. And another. They ate them all, and you just poked the goddamn bear by showing them there's more food out there. Who's ready for Starship Troopers 4: This Time It's the Apocalypse? Edit: Also having multiple galaxies would open up a mod or expansion to counter-invade the Unbidden's home dimension like they're the Undine from Star Trek. Imagine all the crazy poo poo that you could discover and get up too with a whole different set of physics from an alternate reality to work off of. Not that I ever expect anything like all that to happen, but yeah. There's my dream DLC. Archonex fucked around with this message at 02:58 on Feb 8, 2017 |
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Feb 8, 2017 02:42
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Azuth0667 posted:This would be hilarious because what if the end game crisis is actually us being inflicted on a poor unsuspecting nearby galaxy? Yeah, that was the other thing I was thinking about. I didn't want to make the post too much of a run on wank-off though. Imagine some xenophobic empire showing up on your galaxy's doorstep and figuring that it's an end game crisis only to discover that oops, nope. It's just that they're basically galactic fanatical purifiers in all but name. Edit: Also, a 1.5 checkbox to enable all disasters would be awesome provided there was some tech or policy that could mitigate an inevitable AI rebellion in your empire. Otherwise building synthetics would just be an eventual catastrophe. Archonex fucked around with this message at 03:49 on Feb 8, 2017 |
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Feb 8, 2017 03:29
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So the Horizon Signal chain questions: The end is just your system being turned into tomb worlds? No horrifying monster stepping through? No leviathan scale threat to the galaxy buddying up to you if you say you love the Worm? The image for the final event choice shows the Dimensional Horror that resides in black hole systems showing up. Does it do anything to it? Or does it spawn another one that can potentially like you? Seems a bit anti-climactic for such a huge build up.
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Feb 8, 2017 21:53
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DatonKallandor posted:Or alternatively, you could become the Necromorphs. Hand out free Marker schematics to people. They're much more efficient than powerplants! Totally not a wooden horse. Ignore the unrest and free armies spawning on your energy producing worlds. Reminds me of that gods and guardians mod, which if you have the right ethos lets you drop monoliths into a developing nation that let you give them nifty bonuses. If you're a militarist, xenophobe, or fanatic spiritualist with xenophobic leanings you can also use it to set yourself up as gods via the monoliths, enslave the believers of your false religion with carefully concealed slave collars that they think are religious icons, have your believers purge society of all that hate you or realize the sham, ultimately bring their civilization to its knees with some serious decision making and dedication on your part, and then teleport the detritus and survivors off planet to be murdered in brutal labor or as energy producing resources. Needless to say you had better hope the survivors of all of that never make it to the age of being a developed civ. Because whatever is left at that point loving hates aliens. Archonex fucked around with this message at 00:42 on Feb 9, 2017 |
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Feb 9, 2017 00:39
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dumb and kinda scared posted:I am a little wary of those "don't do this!" options. These warnings make sense in Fallen London but sort of weird in a game when you can reload a save. On other hand if this stuff is available to the AI as well it could be cool to see them go down the path of doom and darkness. I don't think the AI can do events. At least, i've never seen them researching an anomaly or getting some of the unique bonuses that can occur from it. About the only thing i've seen them trigger is the Unbidden and occasionally robotic rebellion crisis. Assuming that's the case it's really a notch against the game. Since having your ally trigger something like the Horizon Signal chain would be a major game changer in certain circumstances. From a balance perspective it also kind of limits what you can do with the events too. Since if the player is the only one that can get all these bonuses and possible penalties then you don't want to implement anything that'd risk putting them too far ahead or behind the pack. Edit: Also I don't think they know what to do if a FE declares war on them. I've fought several wars in unmodded games where they never put any counter demands, meaning they're doomed to lose the war no matter what. Which can be really obnoxious if you're in an alliance and get dragged into the conflict. Archonex fucked around with this message at 15:19 on Feb 10, 2017 |
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Feb 10, 2017 15:16
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LordMune posted:Some of the more complex chains are blocked, but AI empires can and do get most of the events that a player would. Oh really? I stand corrected. Still would be nice if they could get huge game changers like the Horizon Signal. Though there'd probably need to be a few more events of that scale to balance it all out and keep the galaxy looking fresh from game to game.
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Feb 10, 2017 15:19
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