Stellaris: So long, and thanks for all the flesh!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Stellaris: So long, and thanks for all the flesh!

Aethernet: Jan 28, 2009; This is the Captain...

Our glorious political masters have, in their wisdom, decided to form an alliance with a rag-tag bunch of freedom fighters right when the Federation has us at a tactical disadvantage. Unsurprisingly, this has resulted in the Feds firing on our vessels...

Damn you Huxley!; Grimey Drawer

Apocalypse Teaser Trailer, beginning the microstory:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW3YB2ptGws
Apocalypse Launch Trailer, ending the microstory?:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AssQqRk3qQM

War.

War never changes.

Except in Stellaris 2.0 "Cherryh on top of the Apocalypse" edition where all the wars are new. For all you returning players, rather than a somewhat mind-numbing slog through an opponent's systems until you max out your warscore and can pick up a small selection of planets, wars now feature concepts like 'terrain', 'strategic chokepoints', 'not being decided in a single fleet engagement' and also - for DLC owners - 'blowing the poo poo out of planets'.

But for those of you who only clicked on this thread because it said 'I WANT TO BELIEVE' by the side of it:

What is Stellaris?

Stellaris is a mashup of a 4X (e.g. Civ, MOO2, Alpha Centauri) and a Grand Strategy game. In SPACE. It's from Paradox Interactive, the masters of renowned mapgames like Crusader Kings 2 and Europa Universalis, except this time rather than castrating your cousins or purging Protestantism, you're venturing to the stars to find ancient secrets, explore new worlds and forge an empire to stand the test of grossly overpowered entities from Beyond Space.

Show me on the planet where the science ship touched you.

It launched as a game you could play and squeeze some fun out of, but was not without its flaws. Since its launch, however, it's been patched to buggery and comes with a range of DLC that expands the experience considerably. These are detailed below. Following patch 2.0, the game has been radically reshaped - gone are the starting choices of FTL type and weapon preference, and in are hyperlanes for all and a new method of expanding your empire. You now have to build an outpost in a system to own it, whereas previously you could own a system because your race of starfish aliens had popped out enough tiny starfish to push your SpaceColour over that system, even if you'd never actually visited it.

This was fine, honest.

I like space! Should I buy it?

If you enjoyed other 4X games or other Paradox games, then go right ahead. If you've never played a strategy game before but quite liked the sense of exploration you got from Star Trek, you should buy it - and enable the tutorial. Basically, you should buy it*.

*on buying it, your view may differ - you should probably read the thread and not just the view of someone who cared about a videogame enough to write screeds on it.

Okay, I bought it! What DLC should I buy?

Essential

Utopia. So you�re in space, right, and you go, �Is this it? Can�t I reshape my future space society to my liking?� Well, with this DLC, you can! You can turn your species into powerful psykers and accidentally unleash the not-Chaos Gods, become perfect beings of steel and circuitry, rewrite your very genome to make your race geniuses (and make other species justdelicious), or, if you prefer, build enormous megastructures like ringworlds and Dyson Spheres, primarily just to show off. Utopia has a dramatic effect on the midgame and endgame especially, and allows you to play as Hive Minds for people who think other people having a separate consciousness is a terrible inconvenience.

Apocalypse. The new major DLC, which I�m assuming here is essential because it allows you to explode worlds. But you don�t only have to explode them! You could also wrap them in an impenetrable ~~spathi slave~~ shield, thus ensuring ~~their safety~~ that they can never bother the universe again. You can be a space Mega-Evangelist and convert entire worlds to your faith. You can even Borgify whole worlds in a single go. Alongside this you get a spicier midgame through new Space Mongols, who might band together to force your subservience before losing Horde Unity and collapsing.

Really Cool
Leviathans. Does space feel just too big? Put it in proportion with this Story Pack that adds in beasts the size of worlds! Shoot space dragons in the face, and ruin your economy by selling your family energy-silver to space traders! Get fleeced by itinerant artists, who get you drunk then nick your stuff!

Synthetic Dawn Did you watch Terminator and hope SkyNet won? With this DLC you can BE SkyNet! Play as a machine mind spread across billions of robots following either the horrendous war of Man and Machine, or the less horrendous Rise of the Roombas in a society in which we have turned over all our decision-making to our former vacuum cleaners.

Strictly Optional
Plantoids. Re-enact the Little Shop of Horrors in space, but this time you get to be the carnivorous plant! Or you could be like a tree I guess.

Humanoids. Is being a not-human a bit challenging? Want literal orcs, elves and dwarves in your spacegame? Get this! Also contains some really cool replacement voicepacks.

And mods?

Most mods are now updated to run in 2.0. Some goon favourites are:

Star Trek: New Horizons � The best Star Trek game. Really.
Guilli�s Planet Modifiers � Goonmade improvements to all your worlds.
Awful Apocalypse - Tired of generic empires clogging up your space? Have goonmade alternatives stand between you and galactic conquest!

How do I meet other goons for multiplayer?

Join the Discord!

https://discord.gg/Wa28D77

HOW MAKE SHIP FIGHT BETTER

You have four types of combat computers that determine how ships will behave in combat: Swarm, Picket, Line and Artillery.

Jazerus posted:

1. the swarm is the center of the messy brawl. anything set to swarm goes here unless there aren't enough opposing swarm ships to stop them from advancing.

2. the picket is hard to distinguish sometimes but they are set back slightly from the swarm. they weave back and forth horizontally in a covering pattern, and if they're equipped with PD they attempt to intercept missiles or strike craft aimed at the line and artillery. if your swarm falters, the picket will start getting swarmed.

3. the line is generally pretty easy to see. these ships hang back well behind the picket and snipe into the swarm, or at the opposing picket and line.

4. the artillery is just the line but even further back.

to get these behaviors working completely as intended, it's important that your weapon range matches the role range. ships will close to the range of their shortest-range weapon basically always.

so, the swarm can mount anything, though the actual stat bonuses indicate that this is a role intended for small-only kinetic + energy corvettes, and also this is the type of ship you want to have in there anyway so that your swarm can actually hold back the enemy swarm through sheer numbers while trying to hollow out the enemy swarm directly. the picket can also mount anything and is kind of the jack-of-all-trades position, personally this is where i put missile corvettes, and also strike craft + PD cruisers when i bother to use those. the line is intended for the usual range of medium weapons; this means that, for example, if you use a destroyer with 2 medium weapons and a small weapon, your small weapon selection is actually restricted to the long-range smalls (standard lasers & guns usually) if you want it to act as part of the line, which is a good place for destroyers. the artillery has the same range-matching issue for cruisers, but with large & medium weapons instead, while artillery battleships can mount all large weapons and thus hang way back.

it's pretty complicated and the formations do fall apart during battle as one side or the other gains the advantage in the swarm. also, if you jump in right on top of the other fleet or they jump in right on top of you, all of this goes out the window and it's just a huge swarm from the start

my recommendations for which ships should go where are just one possible "doctrine", although probably one of the more simple yet effective ones out there especially given the range bug that currently affects artillery. there are many other combinations you could create, keeping in mind your goals:

1. break the enemy swarm with small weapons, and have enough swarm ships to occupy them until they're broken. small-only corvettes are the easy solution to both problems, but also won't be as good against the bigger ships once they do break through.

optional: shoot down missiles

2. kill the enemy line, and if necessary the artillery, with medium and large weapons, while trying to avoid exposing cruisers or battleships to the enemy line or artillery. that's often impossible and you'll end up with a slugfest, that's alright too.

What ascension perks should I get?

VANILLA PERKS

Consecrated Worlds: Allows you enact the Consecrate World planetary edict, which gives a planet a buff of +5% happiness, +15% growth speed, and +15% unity and +25% spiritualist ethics attraction for 100 years, modified by your edicts duration modifier � so given that you can only get this as spiritualists it�s at least 125 years. It costs 300 influence, which is a bit steep for a non-permanent modifier, but for a Life Seeded start or one with few colonies, it could have merit. Situational.

Eternal Vigilance: +25% starbase damage, +25% defence platform damage, and +5 defence platforms. A great perk for defensively-focused empires, and would be amazing in the early game if it didn�t require two other perks to be picked first. Even still, this could help you fend off a technologically superior aggressor pre-Jump Drives. Situational.

Executive Vigour: +50% Edict Duration. Empire-wide edicts are really good, and this allows you to keep them up longer and correspondingly saves you loads of influence. Recommended.

Imperial Prerogative: +5 core systems. The Expansion tree gives you +2 core systems and you can pick up another +2 from relatively cheap tech. If you really want to manage more than 7 systems at once, just download a mod that removes the limit entirely. Not Recommended.

Interstellar Dominion: -20% starbase influence cost, -20% claim cost. A straightforward reduction in cost of your primary influence sinks, making it an excellent choice if influence is bottlenecking your expansion in the early game or your conquest later in the game. Given that you also want to be spending influence on edicts, unless you plan on staying very small, this is a great pick. Recommended.

Mastery of Nature: -33% cost of removing tile blockers and allows you to enact the Land Clearance edict, which adds 1-3 tiles to a planet in proportion to its size at a cost of 500 energy and 100 influence. Previously the no-brainer first pick, 2.0 has given it new functionality and removed its former ability to give you all the tile removing technology at once. Now that tile removal only costs energy, which is relatively plentiful, the case for this pick has weakened further. Land Clearance is helpful if you have a bunch of smaller colonies, but at 100 influence per planet � equivalent to the cost of ten years of an edict � it�s a bit steep. Situational.

One Vision: +10% Unity and +50% Governing Ethics Attraction. A unity buff is always nice, but given that you want unity in order to get traditions and perks spending a perk on it is a bit odd. You have lots of tools to manage factions, and +50% attraction isn�t going to stop slaves inspiring Egalitarianism, whereas suppressing them might. Not Recommended.

Shared Destiny: -50% subject integration influence cost. If you�re expanding through vassalisation and integration exclusively, then this might be a good pick to cut your influence costs overall. However, if integration is something you�ll only do once or twice per game, then giving up a perk slot for this isn�t worth the cost. Situational.

Technological Ascendancy: +10% research speed. A spectacularly unspectacular pick, but one that�s useful regardless of your stage in the game and regardless of playstyle. While it�s no-regrets and essential for any research-focused build, it�s a little boring. Nonetheless, it�s Recommended.

Defender of the Galaxy: +50% damage to Crises and +20 opinion from everyone. Given that there�s a crisis in every game and you�re probably going to have to lead the fight against it, because heaven knows the AI will gently caress it up, this is a really handy pick to grab before it arrives. Of course, if you�re the type of hardcore player who has 200k fleetpower by 2250, then you probably don�t need it, but for the rest of us it�s Recommended.

Galactic Contender: +33% damage to Fallen and Awakened Empires. FEs and AEs are less dangerous than crises, but can still ruin your day if they�re provoked or awaken before you�re ready for them. This is useful for those situations where you�re nearly on a par with them but need an extra boost to assure victory. Accordingly, it is Situational.

Galactic Force Projection: +20 fleet command limit and +80 naval capacity. A nice early game buff for those with the mineral and energy output to support a bigger fleet � especially for empires that plan on being tall � but rapidly superseded by tech and anchorages past the early game. Fleet command limits cap out at 200, which can be reached by tech, rendering it even more irrelevant in the late game. Really Situational.

World Shaper: -25% terraforming costs and can make Gaia worlds. This would be a no-brainer pick for the -25% terraforming cost alone if it didn�t require Climate Restoration, which only pops up relatively late in the game. However, if you have both terraforming resources the cost of making a Gaia world comes down to around 6000 and the time to around 15 years, which given they give a 10% buff to everything starts making using this perk as an energy sink potentially worthwhile. It�s especially valuable for spiritual empires, who can use Gaia terraforming on a small planet and Hallow it to get a 10% unity buff (the same as One Vision), and for xenophiles who no longer have to worry about different habitability races migrating to the same planet. If you�re going the Evolutionary Mastery route, however, you�re better off genetically engineering everyone into compliance. Situational.

Aethernet fucked around with this message at 19:18 on Mar 22, 2018

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:00

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Mar 31, 2023 18:57

Wiz: May 16, 2004; Nap Ghost

Excellent thread title.

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:04

Sekenr: Dec 12, 2013

reposting from old thread:

What are your guys' thoughts on early corvette war on your nearest neighbour with 2.0? How many corvettes? I just tried it with 13 and kind of feels like I need maybe 15 or so. Problem is, I think the AI will just match my fleet. Perhaps colonizing 3rd planet was a mistake and I should have traded it for more corvettes.

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:06

Gyrotica: Nov 26, 2012; Grafted to machines your builders did not understand.

New Horizons appears to already be updated.

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:08

Nuclearmonkee: Jun 10, 2009

Love that loving thread title.

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:08

turn off the TV: Aug 4, 2010; moderately annoying

When is patch 1.0.4 going to be released? It's been two years and it's starting to seem like Paradox is just dropping support for the game in favor of releasing a constant stream of DLC.

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:09

HerpicleOmnicron5: May 31, 2013; How did this smug dummkopf ever make general?

The one major issue I hold with the game is a total lack of options in intel-gathering against an opponent before a war. It's always guesswork whether I beat an equivalent force numerically - that fees unsatisfying still.

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:10

deathbagel: Jun 10, 2008

Wiz posted:

Excellent thread title.

Stopped in to say this.

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:11

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

Warp Drive was no angel.

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:11

Fintilgin: Sep 29, 2004; Fintilgin sweeps!

Gyrotica posted:

New Horizons appears to already be updated.

They must have had early access of some sort, I guess.

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:12

rizzen: Apr 25, 2011

Wiz posted:

Excellent thread title.

Absolutely agreed.

I loved playing as wormhole occasionally just to break up the long chain of hyperlane games, but I mean, really? It's the best option. Just adds too much to the game.

I also look forward to abandoning my save in a few days when the slew of mods that I use are updated again.

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:12

Soup du Jour: Sep 8, 2011; I always knew I'd die with a headache.

The Warp Drive was a rotten scoundrel and Wiz did nothing wrong :colbert:

God I can�t wait to play the new patch.

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:12

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

I own Stellaris but none of the DLC.

Am I going to have a good time, or will it be Civ V without the expansions?

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:16

Ham Sandwiches: Jul 7, 2000

I can tell you Warp Drive had it coming

:hellyeah:

I'm eager to get in my first war, which is a new sentiment

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:16

Ms Adequate: Oct 29, 2011; Baby even when I'm dead and gone
You will always be my only one, my only one
When the night is calling
No matter who I become
You will always be my only one, my only one, my only one
When the night is calling

Ground floor and I want to stress that I just fought my first 2.0 war and it was great

HerpicleOmnicron5 posted:

The one major issue I hold with the game is a total lack of options in intel-gathering against an opponent before a war. It's always guesswork whether I beat an equivalent force numerically - that fees unsatisfying still.

In part the reason I loved that war I just fought was because this wasn't the case. I put a listening post on my border Starfort and I was able to see a shitload of intel on my rival.

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:16

rizzen: Apr 25, 2011

Ms Adequate posted:

Ground floor and I want to stress that I just fought my first 2.0 war and it was great

In part the reason I loved that war I just fought was because this wasn't the case. I put a listening post on my border Starfort and I was able to see a shitload of intel on my rival.

I like this.

I'm gearing up for my first real war here, haven't seen the listening post at all yet, but keep an eye out.

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:18

surfacelevelspeck: Oct 1, 2008; So, um... what did you see?
... see?
Before you closed your eyes?

... nothing.

IAmTheRad posted:

I found out about this after I picked up the expansion from Steam. I could get a refund but meh.

https://www.fanatical.com/en/dlc/stellaris-apocalypse
Apocalypse for 15% off. Fanatical is legit, they're owned by Focus Multimedia.

postcapt posted:

You can apply the discount code "LUNAR8" for another 8% off.

quoting these for the new thread.

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:18

Samopsa: Nov 9, 2009; Krijgt geen speciaal kerstdiner!

StrixNebulosa posted:

I own Stellaris but none of the DLC.

Am I going to have a good time, or will it be Civ V without the expansions?

The core new mechanics of each patch are free, the dlc adds some (admittedly very cool) bonus stuff basically. I'd say about 15 to 20% of total content is locked behind dlc, the rest is base game.

Play a single full game before buying the dlc imo. Start with utopia if you do want to buy dlc, followed by synthetic dawn if you like robbits and apocalypse if you like massive doomsday weapons. The rest of the dlc are smaller in scope.

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:19

ConfusedUs: Feb 24, 2004; Bees?
You want fucking bees?
Here you go!
ROLL INITIATIVE!!

HerpicleOmnicron5 posted:

The one major issue I hold with the game is a total lack of options in intel-gathering against an opponent before a war. It's always guesswork whether I beat an equivalent force numerically - that fees unsatisfying still.

Is there an equivalent to 1.x's "Active Sensor Link" trade deal in 2.0?

Because my SOP was to trade for ASL on anyone I thought I might go to war with. I'd gladly pay a few minerals a month for the short time before they ceased to exist, yes.

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:20

canepazzo: May 29, 2006

Just posting to be on the ground floor of this amazing thread (title).

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:24

MarquiseMindfang: Jan 6, 2013; vriska (vriska)

That loving thread title.

In other news, Fanatic Spiritualist + Beacon of Liberty finally surpassing Inward Perfection for Unity gen means I'm now free to warmonger all I like. Life-Seeded handily negating Non-Adaptive means I can pick hella traits. I'm planning to beeline for Gaia World Terraforming or Habitats, not sure which. Maybe both and get my Holy Worlds on.

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:24

Paracausal: Sep 5, 2011; Oh yeah, baby. Frame your suffering as a masterpiece. Only one problem - no one's watching. It's boring, buddy, boring as death.

Swore that I preordered apocalypse from the pdx store so was waiting for my key overnight. Checked this morning to find that they don't accept transactions from Australia anymore? What the absolute gently caress?

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:27

Davincie: Jul 7, 2008

how do i actually add new designs to a fleet. i click choose design in the fleet manager, i click on a design but nothing happens. also trading food seems impossible, nobody wants to give me any

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:28

Clanpot Shake: Aug 10, 2006; shake shake!

Syndlig posted:

quoting these for the new thread.

How legit are sites like this?

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:29

canepazzo: May 29, 2006

Contacts tells you how many colonies an empire has. Is there any way to see how many systems they have? (other than counting)

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:31

Lum_: Jun 5, 2006; Ask me about nerfing your paladin!

Aethernet posted:

And mods?

The new patch is just out, so most mods won�t work for a while. Two to keep an eye on are:

Star Trek: New Horizons � The best Star Trek game. Really.
Guilli�s Planet Modifiers � Goonmade improvements to all your worlds.

New Horizons already updated. AND patched the first update. I don't think they sleep. My excitement is bolded

quote:

Update: Feb 22 @ 12:30pm
NHV 1802 Arsenal of Freedom - Beta (8ebd61)

- temporarily removed titanic (PD) slot until PDX fixes a critical issue
- fixed observation stations
- fixed xindi probe combat speed
- fixed an issue with borg armor techs
- fixed borg colony harvest project
- fixed several localisation issues

Update: Feb 22 @ 8:51am
Arsenal of Freedom - NHV 1802 patch notes

A couple minutes ago, Paradox delivered 2.0 � Apocalypse DLC / Patch. Since the Paradox Announcements and Dev Diaries we got many messages with questions about the changing mechanics. It is now a great pleasure for us to introduce our update
�ST: New Horizons � Arsenal of Freedom.�

We just started the upload. NHV 1802 is the first in a series of updates that will be delivered under the �Arsenal of Freedom� headline, which will ultimately entirely overhaul space combat in New Horizons. You can expect to see massive improvements to weapon balance, ship classes and components. This patch includes many prototypes and proof-of-concept that will be used to flesh out the game in the upcoming months, as we move forward with our long-term plans. We�re quite excited!
So here are the patch notes for NHV 1802

Major New Mechanics
- Space combat has been re-worked. Every ship has a small chance to survive catastrophic damage and disengage from the fight. New backup consoles can increase your chance. Certain empires that have specialty in backup technologies will also boost that chance.
- Stellaris 2.0 FTL system has been reworked extensively as to offer a viable warp simulation.
- Deep Space Stations have been entirely removed from the game. Many of their unique advantages and buildings have been moved to the new Starbase facilities system.
- Federation starbases will now have registry naming - just like our ship�s NCC-registry mechanic.
- Starbases can now build dozens of unique facilities and modules. All have their own original icons.
- Military stations can no longer be built independently and are now �slaved� to starbases. Starbases may now build a very limited amount of military stations, but those tend to be very powerful. Stations include � minefield (Damage aura), dry dock (healing aura), listening post (sensor range) and two sizes of defense platforms.
- New living standards allow players to choose the type of paradise you want to build to your people. Prosperity resource have been made more abundant, and a new �resort� building, built on planets of exceptional beauty, can generate a lot more prosperity.
- Dozens of new types of assault armies have been added, that offer deep and meaningful choice to how you want to engage with ground combat � as well as seven new bombardment policies and options! Unique armies have also been refactored, and work better than before.
- Dozens of new edicts, including some that require energy or even unity.
- Several new war goals, including supporting civil war between factions, as well as assimilation raids by the Borg.

Visuals
- Extensive work has been done on camera definition and engine setting, to improve visual fidelity and proper sense of scale.
- A new UI for loading screens, that will now display rotating text messages. Over 110 �tips� have been added so far.
- Numerous new space atmosphere effects and unique solar systems, thanks to Annatar of the Real Space 3.0 mod
- New type of stars and deep space anomalies, alongside visuals and icons for them - such as M-type anomalies and �Interstellar Space�

Ships
- The Federation runabout is a new and unique ship class.
- The Borg has been enhanced with two new ship classes - the fast Scout and the Pyramid, capable of providing space-superiority.
- The Voth City Ship now a proper separate ship class
- The Vulcan T�Pau added.
- Imperial construction modifiers have been re-worked, to include advantages to armor as well as backup systems.

Map
- The Wormhole from Bajor to the Idran system in the Gamma Quadrant will now appear. Who knows what sort of chaos it will unleash on the galaxy�
- Borg may now build transwarp conduits that allow for near instantons travel between any point on the map
- Numerous planets now have more resources and unique structures, as to fit trek lore and canon more.
- New range of planetary modifiers and deposits throughout the Galaxy.
- You may now explore the origins of the Vorta and the Jem�Hadar � proto-Vorta can be found on Kurill prime, while the proto-Jem�Hadar hail from their mysterious homeworld: Gar�Sitra.
- Several iconic systems, such as Bajor, Idran, Ross 973, the Founders planet and Murasaki 312 systems have been reworked
- Numerous new systems have been added

Species
- The Haakonian Order has been added to the Delta Quadrant.
- Skagarran species portraits.
- Kelpiens are now delicious.
- Nathan Samuels has a new hairdo.
- General improvements to Jem�Hadar portraits.
- The Sheliak, Tamarian and Tellarite now have new flags - the later based on the new official design shown in Discovery
- Ferengi now have a few new clothing options
- What came before the Borg? What comes after? New governments, species, portraits and clothes will explore the original Borg species as well as ex-drones.
- Pops may now be partially assimilated, with their own looks and clothes.

Components and weapons

- All required components re-arranged into a system of 15 sizes, from type-1 components that fit Runabouts all the way to Type-20 carried by city-ships.
- Numerous new icons for components, weapons, consoles and more.
- New sensor settings, with upgradeable options
- Weapons have been entirely re-balanced from scratch, with weapons that focus on armor and hull damage
- Component progression is now more even and equal across all species, including having more stages for shields, thrusters and warp engines.
- Players may now specialize in specific categories of weapons, weapon sizes and types of damage
- All weapon specialization paths have been reworked � none of them are �useless� anymore
- Point Defense weapons can now be slotted into a new type of slot, and they can target fighters.
- Weapons may now be restricted to certain ship sizes and types. Starbases and military stations will now use a new and exceptionally powerful variant of heavy beam weapons.
- Science ships no longer have a �lab� module. The relevant technologies have been reworked to include modifiers to the ships.
- Cloaking generators no longer give a bonus to evasion � instead, they give a significant boost to damage at the start of every engagement.
- AUX (science) utilities will no longer be responsible to off-combat bonuses but will now focus mostly on several types of damage repair. Shield generators have been moved to the AUX slot.

Tech, tradition, perks and buildings
- The entire tech tree has been rebuilt yet again to offer better progression
- Dozens of new species-specific technologies, including unique techs for the Cardassian, Terran Empire, Zakdorn, Bynars, Kelpien and many others. A lot more unique and species-specific buildings, leading to some very diverse and powerful starting positions
- The Federation Council tech exchange is now cheaper to use. In addition, more species will offer their unique technologies via the exchange.
- The Federation Council framework has been improved extensively, including a rework of the ascension process. Players may also now �mediate disputes� between warring allies.
- Ascension perks are now available to all players without the need of a DLC, as well as a technology to grant players one additional perk.
- Genetic and psionic tech branches have been significantly improved both in use, and in gating.
- Factions have been updated to 2.0, including many improvements and bug fixes.
- Dozens of new buildings, including the Tower of Commerce and a Kelpien Breeding Ground.

Events
- The mirror universe Terran Empire event chain has been re-worked and improved.
- The Terran Empire invasion crisis event has been re-worked.
- The Mars terraforming event chain has been re-worked and improved.
- The Xindi event chain has been expanded. Expect cowboys.
- The Altamid Swarm mini-criss has been expanded and improved upon.
- A new event chain will let you explore the Denorios belt. Who knows what you may find there.

Lum_ fucked around with this message at 19:37 on Feb 22, 2018

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:32

rizzen: Apr 25, 2011

The real question is, am I just blind, or are my rally points loving gone in this update?

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:32

surfacelevelspeck: Oct 1, 2008; So, um... what did you see?
... see?
Before you closed your eyes?

... nothing.

Clanpot Shake posted:

How legit are sites like this?

afaik pretty legit. site's owned by Focus Multimedia who're videogame publishers.

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:32

VirtualStranger: Aug 20, 2012

Wiz Did Nothing Wrong

Warp and Wormhole got what was coming to them

:commissar:

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:33

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Samopsa posted:

The core new mechanics of each patch are free, the dlc adds some (admittedly very cool) bonus stuff basically. I'd say about 15 to 20% of total content is locked behind dlc, the rest is base game.

Play a single full game before buying the dlc imo. Start with utopia if you do want to buy dlc, followed by synthetic dawn if you like robbits and apocalypse if you like massive doomsday weapons. The rest of the dlc are smaller in scope.

This is extremely helpful, thank you. Stellaris reinstalled.

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:36

Captain Oblivious: Oct 12, 2007; I'm not like other posters

The only thing bugging me right now is the fact that I can't right click poo poo to queue up surveys or mining stations anymore, otherwise life is good

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:44

Sindai: Jan 24, 2007; i want to achieve immortality through not dying

So how exactly does the ST mod do FTL travel now?

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:47

Wiz: May 16, 2004; Nap Ghost

Captain Oblivious posted:

The only thing bugging me right now is the fact that I can't right click poo poo to queue up surveys or mining stations anymore, otherwise life is good

What do you mean? You can still shift-click orders to queue them.

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:48

IAmTheRad: Dec 11, 2009; Goddammit this Cello is way out of tune!

Clanpot Shake posted:

How legit are sites like this?

Fanatical is owned by Focus Multimedia, so they are legit. It's like how Humble Bundle is owned by IGN now and is also legit.

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:52

Dongattack: Dec 20, 2006; by Cyrano4747

I feel like i read in a dev diary or something that we got the ability to increase the "size" of planets in this expansion, did i dream that up? I'm sitting here looking at some not ideal prospects of 12-16 size planets and if i can increase their size later i should probably colonize some of them.

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:52

canepazzo: May 29, 2006

Dongattack posted:

I feel like i read in a dev diary or something that we got the ability to increase the "size" of planets in this expansion, did i dream that up? I'm sitting here looking at some not ideal prospects of 12-16 size planets and if i can increase their size later i should probably colonize some of them.

It's the Ascension Perk "Mastery of Nature". 33% discount on clearing blockers + increase size of planet edict.

New: my science ship got amoeba'd but my scientist survived? He went back to the pool.

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:53

3 DONG HORSE: May 21, 2008; I'd like to thank Satan for everything he's done for this organization

^ DONG TEAMWORK

Dongattack posted:

I feel like i read in a dev diary or something that we got the ability to increase the "size" of planets in this expansion, did i dream that up? I'm sitting here looking at some not ideal prospects of 12-16 size planets and if i can increase their size later i should probably colonize some of them.

It's possible but it increases more size the smaller the planet is, so your size 16 will benefit less than the size 12

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:54

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; "Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."; Hell Gem

Lum_ posted:

New Horizons already updated. AND patched the first update. I don't think they sleep. My excitement is bolded

I laughed way too hard at the Kelpian part.

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:56

Dongattack: Dec 20, 2006; by Cyrano4747

Thank you, thank you. Truly dongomatic.

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:57

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Mar 31, 2023 18:57

Google Jeb Bush: Mar 28, 2010; They even broke into my safe!

Tarquinn posted:

I laughed way too hard at the Kelpian part.

yeah that's fantastic

i might have to get this mod after goofing around with the new base game some

# ? Feb 22, 2018 19:58

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Stellaris: So long, and thanks for all the flesh!

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