Stellaris: a second Astral Planes has hit the game

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Best Friends: Nov 4, 2011

If this was a game where submitting as a vassal then working your way out from under their thumb was a viable strategy, there'd be no downside to advanced starts imo. However,

# ? Mar 3, 2021 07:34

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# ? Apr 26, 2024 08:17

immolationsex: Sep 16, 2002; ASK ME ABOUT HOW I ENJOY RUINING STEAK LIKE A GODDAMN BARBARIAN

MrL_JaKiri posted:

Press g

You have changed my loving life.

# ? Mar 3, 2021 07:55

twistedmentat: Nov 21, 2003; Its my party
and I'll die if
I want to

It doesn't work all the time. Like a lot of ships you get through events and projects, like junkers and the ones from the automated shipyard will not combine with your regular fleets for some reason. The Nanite Dissembler will though.

That trait points thing keeps happening. There is only one race in my empire, I create a template, I apply it, i finish the research and then a month later i get the "unspent trait points" thing again. As far as I can tell I'm applying them properly but for some reason it's not having them stick. Like the template i created is there, and all my pops are part of it after the project finishes, but i can keep creating endless templates and applying them to my race. It's super duper annoying to have that popup there. All I can find online is people not knowing you have to actually research the project to apply it, but I've done that.

# ? Mar 3, 2021 09:13

Yami Fenrir: Jan 25, 2015; Is it I that is insane... or the rest of the world?

twistedmentat posted:

It doesn't work all the time. Like a lot of ships you get through events and projects, like junkers and the ones from the automated shipyard will not combine with your regular fleets for some reason. The Nanite Dissembler will though.

That trait points thing keeps happening. There is only one race in my empire, I create a template, I apply it, i finish the research and then a month later i get the "unspent trait points" thing again. As far as I can tell I'm applying them properly but for some reason it's not having them stick. Like the template i created is there, and all my pops are part of it after the project finishes, but i can keep creating endless templates and applying them to my race. It's super duper annoying to have that popup there. All I can find online is people not knowing you have to actually research the project to apply it, but I've done that.

Keep in mind that it applies to robots too.

And like, every single species/robot template that you have.

Real reason to go robot ascension, only one template :v:

# ? Mar 3, 2021 09:39

Gort: Aug 18, 2003; Good day what ho cup of tea

twistedmentat posted:

It doesn't work all the time. Like a lot of ships you get through events and projects, like junkers and the ones from the automated shipyard will not combine with your regular fleets for some reason. The Nanite Dissembler will though.

That trait points thing keeps happening. There is only one race in my empire, I create a template, I apply it, i finish the research and then a month later i get the "unspent trait points" thing again. As far as I can tell I'm applying them properly but for some reason it's not having them stick. Like the template i created is there, and all my pops are part of it after the project finishes, but i can keep creating endless templates and applying them to my race. It's super duper annoying to have that popup there. All I can find online is people not knowing you have to actually research the project to apply it, but I've done that.

One reason this can happen is if you make a colony ship before you make the template, so you've got two invisible pre-template pops in the colony ship. Then you colonise with that colony ship and bam, unspent trait points.

# ? Mar 3, 2021 10:46

Libluini: May 18, 2012; I gravitated towards the Greens, eventually even joining the party itself.

The Linke is a party I grudgingly accept exists, but I've learned enough about DDR-history I can't bring myself to trust a party that was once the SED, a party leading the corrupt state apparatus ...; Grimey Drawer

This discussion reminded me of a species-related question I had but kept forgetting to ask: I know some origins can give you habitability-related traits, like e.g. the Voids Dweller origin.

Is it possible to make some custom habitability traits or would that cause conflicts without also making a custom origin mod?

Basically I want to make poo poo like a "deep sea dweller" trait with bonuses when living on ocean planets and penalties on other planet types, but I'm not sure if I can get away with just modding a trait, or if this specific thing would only work with a mod origin.

# ? Mar 3, 2021 11:19

Electro-Boogie Jack: Nov 22, 2006; bagger mcguirk sent me.

Best Friends posted:

If this was a game where submitting as a vassal then working your way out from under their thumb was a viable strategy, there'd be no downside to advanced starts imo. However,

*drags cursor over vassal relations from CK3, updates medieval thing names to space thing names, copies, pastes into stellaris* ah much better

# ? Mar 3, 2021 16:28

Splicer: Oct 16, 2006; from hell's heart I cast at thee
🧙🐀🧹🌙🪄🐸

Libluini posted:

This discussion reminded me of a species-related question I had but kept forgetting to ask: I know some origins can give you habitability-related traits, like e.g. the Voids Dweller origin.

Is it possible to make some custom habitability traits or would that cause conflicts without also making a custom origin mod?

Basically I want to make poo poo like a "deep sea dweller" trait with bonuses when living on ocean planets and penalties on other planet types, but I'm not sure if I can get away with just modding a trait, or if this specific thing would only work with a mod origin.

You can make custom habitabilitys easily, the issue is assigning them since the default interface wouldn't have a planet for them. The other issue is they only let you change habitability, so it would just be something like 100% ocean 0% everything else.

If you mean a trait that adjusts based on the planet you're on, for some reason Void Dwellers does the positives and negatives by swapping out your good void dweller trait for a bad one when on a not-habitat. You could copy how they do that and just remove this from the good trait:

code:

	initial = no
	randomized = no
	modification = no

to make it something anyone can pick as a trait. Or leave that in and (I think) add this:

code:

	species_potential_add = {
		has_trait = { trait_pc_ocean }
	}

which would mean only a species with ocean preference can pick it.

Splicer fucked around with this message at 16:52 on Mar 3, 2021

# ? Mar 3, 2021 16:42

Libluini: May 18, 2012; I gravitated towards the Greens, eventually even joining the party itself.

The Linke is a party I grudgingly accept exists, but I've learned enough about DDR-history I can't bring myself to trust a party that was once the SED, a party leading the corrupt state apparatus ...; Grimey Drawer

Splicer posted:

You can make custom habitabilitys easily, the issue is assigning them since the default interface wouldn't have a planet for them. The other issue is they only let you change habitability, so it would just be something like 100% ocean 0% everything else.

If you mean a trait that adjusts based on the planet you're on, for some reason Void Dwellers does the positives and negatives by swapping out your good void dweller trait for a bad one when on a not-habitat. You could copy how they do that and just remove this from the good trait:
code:
	initial = no
	randomized = no
	modification = no
to make it something anyone can pick as a trait. Or leave that in and (I think) add this:
code:
	species_potential_add = {
		has_trait = { trait_pc_ocean }
	}
which would mean only a species with ocean preference can pick it.

Sweet, thanks! I'll try this out asap.

# ? Mar 3, 2021 16:54

Serephina: Nov 8, 2005; 恐竜戦隊
ジュウレンジャー

Electro-Boogie Jack posted:

*drags cursor over vassal relations from CK3, updates medieval thing names to space thing names, copies, pastes into stellaris* ah much better

I mean we make jokes about this all the time, but Stellaris really does feel like equal parts Generic Space 4X, Paradox Narrative Special, and Sins of a Solar Empire; except they took the wrong parts from each one and absolutely nothing loving works the way anyone wants it to.

# ? Mar 3, 2021 16:58

Yami Fenrir: Jan 25, 2015; Is it I that is insane... or the rest of the world?

Serephina posted:

I mean we make jokes about this all the time, but Stellaris really does feel like equal parts Generic Space 4X, Paradox Narrative Special, and Sins of a Solar Empire; except they took the wrong parts from each one and absolutely nothing loving works the way anyone wants it to.

The funny thing is that they even DID copy Crusader Kings... in the Federation laws.

In the most non-interactive click and forget way possible.

# ? Mar 3, 2021 17:13

Serephina: Nov 8, 2005; 恐竜戦隊
ジュウレンジャー

Yea, when I saw the Federation rules, it really did smack heavily of CK2's Centralization/Power of the Crown thing. Except despite being practically a copy/paste job it sucks, since your interaction with AIs are just filling buckets and are as far away as "carefully trying not to piss off your allies" as can be. The real kicker is the there's no reason to even try if you don't have the DLC, as all of the good stuff is greyed out for vanilla players.

It just... sucks so much, on so many different levels.

# ? Mar 3, 2021 17:20

Yami Fenrir: Jan 25, 2015; Is it I that is insane... or the rest of the world?

Serephina posted:

Yea, when I saw the Federation rules, it really did smack heavily of CK2's Centralization/Power of the Crown thing. Except despite being a literal copy/paste job it sucks, since your interaction with AIs are just filling buckets and are as far away as "carefully trying not to piss off your allies" as can be. The real kicker is the there's no reason to even try if you don't have the DLC, as all of the good stuff is greyed out for vanilla players.

It just... sucks so much, on so many different levels.

Apart from forcefully recruiting their rivals into the federation via dip weight voting it's basically impossible to piss of your allies anyway, which is kind of :psyduck:

anyway. The ticking trust value ensures power blocks will remain power blocks basically forever barring new rivalries (which usually only ever happen if someone loses a rival to wars making them too small or too big).

# ? Mar 3, 2021 17:23

Mr. Crow: May 22, 2008; Snap City mayor for life

Yami Fenrir posted:

Maybe it creates a narrative.

You know what it also creates?

Bad gameplay. Any sort of aggressive AI (especially purifiers) obviously will just declare war on you with their pretty much unbeatable strength at the time. So if you're just unlucky enough to have them spawn next to you...

If restarts are necessary not due to your own failings but due to one mechanic maybe the mechanic is... bad.

Narrative shouldn't come at the expense of gameplay.

Especially when you disable it and then it forces itself into your game anyway.

LordMune, any chance you could suggest to the team that maybe disabling Advanced Starts disables Lost Colony too or something?

I've literally lost a game before due to Lost Colony spawning a Advanced Devouring Swarm blocking me in anyway.

Big disagree.

Also the wonderful thing about advanced starts? They're completely optional

A strategy to help you in this situation is to immediately build up fleets and star bases, he'll see you as more of a threat than neighbor X and attack them, use it as a distraction and destroy him. Immediately buttering up neighbors and forming defensive pacts is also a great, sometimes necessary, strategy.

It's funny your complaining about them because I can't remember the last time a fanatical purifier survived past 2300, their diplomacy is so bad they always immediately get mauled by the entire Galaxy. Maybe it's starnet making them useless? Idk

Mr. Crow fucked around with this message at 21:26 on Mar 3, 2021

# ? Mar 3, 2021 21:08

Yami Fenrir: Jan 25, 2015; Is it I that is insane... or the rest of the world?

Mr. Crow posted:

Big disagree.

Also the wonderful thing about advanced starts? They're completely optional

No, they're mostly optional.

Like I literally explained in that post.

Lost Colony's still force them on you.

If it didn't, I wouldn't be complaining about how bad of a mechanic it is because I didn't need to deal with it.

# ? Mar 3, 2021 21:11

Mr. Crow: May 22, 2008; Snap City mayor for life

Yami Fenrir posted:

No, they're mostly optional.

Like I literally explained in that post.

Lost Colony's still force them on you.

If it didn't, I wouldn't be complaining about how bad of a mechanic it is because I didn't need to deal with it.

You mean the optional origin that literally tells you one will spawn and it's the point of the origin?

:confused:

# ? Mar 3, 2021 21:18

Zurai: Feb 13, 2012; Wait -- I haven't even voted in this game yet!

Mr. Crow posted:

You mean the optional origin that literally tells you one will spawn and it's the point of the origin?

AIs take origins too. You cannot turn it off.

# ? Mar 3, 2021 21:19

Yami Fenrir: Jan 25, 2015; Is it I that is insane... or the rest of the world?

Zurai posted:

AIs take origins too. You cannot turn it off.

This.

# ? Mar 3, 2021 21:20

Mr. Crow: May 22, 2008; Snap City mayor for life

Ah, fair enough

# ? Mar 3, 2021 21:25

Fur20: Nov 14, 2007; すご▞い！
君は働か░い
フ▙▓ズなんだね！

Vengarr posted:

I do like events that spawn murderous neighbors like the Prikki-ti, the Khan, or the L-Gates. By the time they show up, you should have your poo poo together enough that they don�t automatically end your game.

the first time i ever did an L-Gate, i did it too early and it was the one that spawns infinite 40k power grey goo fleets, and i had two gates in my territory. my own biggest fleet at that point was 40k on its own

the second time i did an L-Gate i didn't open it until after the midgame event and it was just the fake nanite people, who i overran with my 2,500,000 fleet power

# ? Mar 3, 2021 21:44

Libluini: May 18, 2012; I gravitated towards the Greens, eventually even joining the party itself.

The Linke is a party I grudgingly accept exists, but I've learned enough about DDR-history I can't bring myself to trust a party that was once the SED, a party leading the corrupt state apparatus ...; Grimey Drawer

Mr. Crow posted:

Ah, fair enough

It wouldn't be so bad if it wouldn't work so nonsensical. I made a lost colony AI empire for me to deal with once and was not amused when this little empire of lost humans spawned a "Human Hive" as its parent, which was also a devouring swarm.

"What the hell happened on Earth to cause this??!", was my legit first reaction upon seeing this mess. And while it was funny, I'm not playing Stellaris to read bad jokes.

(I still have this empire in my list of pre-made empires, just switched off so it can't spawn anymore. Just in case this origin gets some bug fixes in the future.)

# ? Mar 3, 2021 21:59

Yami Fenrir: Jan 25, 2015; Is it I that is insane... or the rest of the world?

Libluini posted:

It wouldn't be so bad if it wouldn't work so nonsensical. I made a lost colony AI empire for me to deal with once and was not amused when this little empire of lost humans spawned a "Human Hive" as its parent, which was also a devouring swarm.

"What the hell happened on Earth to cause this??!", was my legit first reaction upon seeing this mess. And while it was funny, I'm not playing Stellaris to read bad jokes.

(I still have this empire in my list of pre-made empires, just switched off so it can't spawn anymore. Just in case this origin gets some bug fixes in the future.)

Oh, you too?

Welcome to the club.

# ? Mar 3, 2021 22:07

Airspace: Nov 5, 2010

Way back in the day with tiles and wormholes, I used Advanced Starts.

My first Advanced Start game spawned me next to a Fanatic Spiritualist with Militarist. I lasted ten years before they destroyed me.

My second Advanced Start game I spawned next to two Advanced Start species, who near-immediately federated and became 'protective' towards me, a diplomatic state I haven't seen before or since. It was some bizarre Sci-Fi orphan story, only one parent was a platypus and the other was a moth. I didn't really do much that game but it was basically :3:

the 4x.

My third Advanced Start spawned me next to a Fantatical Purifier. At that point I turned Advanced Starts off and kept them off.

# ? Mar 3, 2021 23:16

Kaal: May 22, 2002; through thousands of posts in D&D over a decade, I now believe I know what I'm talking about. if I post forcefully and confidently, I can convince others that is true. no one sees through my facade.

Zurai posted:

AIs take origins too. You cannot turn it off.

Make a bunch of species that don't have the Lost Colony origin, and set them to spawn. The game will randomly select from them until the number of players are reached.

# ? Mar 3, 2021 23:21

Libluini: May 18, 2012; I gravitated towards the Greens, eventually even joining the party itself.

The Linke is a party I grudgingly accept exists, but I've learned enough about DDR-history I can't bring myself to trust a party that was once the SED, a party leading the corrupt state apparatus ...; Grimey Drawer

Kaal posted:

Make a bunch of species that don't have the Lost Colony origin, and set them to spawn. The game will randomly select from them until the number of players are reached.

Though this doesn't really solve the problem of the Lost Colony origin being really cool and something you'd want in your game if it weren't so shoddily programmed

# ? Mar 3, 2021 23:25

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Fur20 posted:

the first time i ever did an L-Gate, i did it too early and it was the one that spawns infinite 40k power grey goo fleets, and i had two gates in my territory. my own biggest fleet at that point was 40k on its own

the second time i did an L-Gate i didn't open it until after the midgame event and it was just the fake nanite people, who i overran with my 2,500,000 fleet power

And this is why I literally never bother with them. Too variable.

# ? Mar 4, 2021 02:56

The Bananana: May 21, 2008; This is a metaphor, a Christian allegory. The fact that I have to explain to you that Jesus is the Warthog, and the Banana is drepanocytosis is just embarrassing for you.

Fur20 posted:

the first time i ever did an L-Gate, i did it too early and it was the one that spawns infinite 40k power grey goo fleets, and i had two gates in my territory. my own biggest fleet at that point was 40k on its own

the second time i did an L-Gate i didn't open it until after the midgame event and it was just the fake nanite people, who i overran with my 2,500,000 fleet power

Hello, let me tell you about how the entire galaxy has been carved to pieces by these nanite fuckers.

And I'm just holding on for the ride at this point. I didn't even open the drat gate.

# ? Mar 4, 2021 03:43

Horace Kinch: Aug 15, 2007

I always wait for the Khan to spawn before I open the gate, in case of the grey tempest. Watching the galaxy panic is always fun.

# ? Mar 4, 2021 05:46

ThaumPenguin: Oct 9, 2013

I had the reverse, where I opened the L-gates, got a fairly safe outcome, and then the Khan arose before I was ready for him, which led to him using the L-Gates to perform constant guerilla raids on the rest of the galaxy for like two decades.

# ? Mar 4, 2021 05:55

Horace Kinch: Aug 15, 2007

That sounds pretty awesome, tbh. I can always count on the Khan to shake things up, break federations when they start taking satrapies, and overall letting a few empires redraw borders.

# ? Mar 4, 2021 06:41

IPlayVideoGames: Nov 28, 2004; I unironically like Anders as a character.

I haven�t played in a while, so I don�t know if this still works the same, but I remember it always being advantageous in my games to just immediately capitulate and wait the Khan out. You could even follow his fleets with a bunch of constructors to get free space real estate as he blew right through your neighbors, and you wouldn�t even have to start a war over it.

# ? Mar 4, 2021 07:53

Poil: Mar 17, 2007

You haven't seen a khan shake up the galaxy until you've experienced it on a small map. Good thing the khan can't win a domination victory. :toot:

(as long as they're not blocked in by too powerful empires and can't do anything of course)

I usually surrender immediately to the khan so they have extra fleets to plow across the other empires. Don't care about crippling my economy because I just enjoy watching them carve paths through those pesky AI nations so much. Good times.

# ? Mar 4, 2021 10:45

Splicer: Oct 16, 2006; from hell's heart I cast at thee
🧙🐀🧹🌙🪄🐸

If we don't get a release date today I'm going to, I dunno, nothing really.

# ? Mar 4, 2021 11:47

Libluini: May 18, 2012; I gravitated towards the Greens, eventually even joining the party itself.

The Linke is a party I grudgingly accept exists, but I've learned enough about DDR-history I can't bring myself to trust a party that was once the SED, a party leading the corrupt state apparatus ...; Grimey Drawer

I usually fight the Khan to the death.

Kind of funny, but in my games the Nanite Fuckers tend to kill half the galaxy with ease, but we can deal with the Khan just fine, if he doesn't just die like a chump.

In other news, even on Admiral I tend to see tons of un-colonized planets even very late into the game, what's up with this? Why is the AI so slow at terraforming and how can I change this?

# ? Mar 4, 2021 12:10

canepazzo: May 29, 2006

Splicer posted:

If we don't get a release date today I'm going to, I dunno, nothing really.

They usually announce these in a stream/with a trailer, so doubtful unfortunately

# ? Mar 4, 2021 12:56

Poil: Mar 17, 2007

I finally got around to robot ascension. The first time I made the attempt I got the disassembly bug. Definitely the most painful given how ludicrously long the projects are, they're using up engineering research and it needs the most lucking into techs. Also the cyborg is a one thing only so all pops migrating in afterwards can't get it? At least everyone got turned into robutts without issues, except that I ended up with all the built robot pops and the forcefully assimilated pops as two separate species but that's still a vastly better species list than before.

# ? Mar 4, 2021 13:03

Yami Fenrir: Jan 25, 2015; Is it I that is insane... or the rest of the world?

Poil posted:

I finally got around to robot ascension. The first time I made the attempt I got the disassembly bug. Definitely the most painful given how ludicrously long the projects are, they're using up engineering research and it needs the most lucking into techs. Also the cyborg is a one thing only so all pops migrating in afterwards can't get it? At least everyone got turned into robutts without issues, except that I ended up with all the built robot pops and the forcefully assimilated pops as two separate species but that's still a vastly better species list than before.

Cyborgs give you 'assimilation' species rights, you might need to set the default to that to borg up new species.

# ? Mar 4, 2021 14:44

Libluini: May 18, 2012; I gravitated towards the Greens, eventually even joining the party itself.

The Linke is a party I grudgingly accept exists, but I've learned enough about DDR-history I can't bring myself to trust a party that was once the SED, a party leading the corrupt state apparatus ...; Grimey Drawer

Libluini posted:

I usually fight the Khan to the death.

Kind of funny, but in my games the Nanite Fuckers tend to kill half the galaxy with ease, but we can deal with the Khan just fine, if he doesn't just die like a chump.

In other news, even on Admiral I tend to see tons of un-colonized planets even very late into the game, what's up with this? Why is the AI so slow at terraforming and how can I change this?

And another thing I thought off, why not change the Lost Colony origin to allow the player to make the mother empire

This would immediately solve all issues for everyone. Don't want to risk being settled with RNG-bullshit? Make your own poo poo, done. Don't want to bother cobbling together your own.abomination? Hit the randomizer, done.

Simple as that.

# ? Mar 4, 2021 15:23

Relevant Tangent: Nov 18, 2016; Tangentially Relevant

It's because they design the game around MP as well as SP and a lost colony with optimized parent civilization would own in MP. If they'd just separate the experiences out it would be a much better game. "This option not available in MP (why are you playing MP you freaks?)"

# ? Mar 4, 2021 15:28

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# ? Apr 26, 2024 08:17

Yami Fenrir: Jan 25, 2015; Is it I that is insane... or the rest of the world?

Relevant Tangent posted:

It's because they design the game around MP as well as SP and a lost colony with optimized parent civilization would own in MP. If they'd just separate the experiences out it would be a much better game. "This option not available in MP (why are you playing MP you freaks?)"

Hey now, messing around with a friend is fun.

It's the competitive players that are the freaks :v:

# ? Mar 4, 2021 15:35

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