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[umiman]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

At this point I'm just patiently waiting in the bedroom while she does her hair.

LoL more like she went straight out of the bathroom and looking at me in the eyes said - "no bjs till I'm fifty"

It's like you met this girl on a dating site and you two seemed to hit it off really well. From her pictures she looked super fit and she seemed to carry herself off well. Not to mention you got to talk to her friends and they made you think she was great. When you decide to meet however, turns out she doesn't have money for the cab fare to get there so after some hesitation you decide to just pay for that.

She arrives. She looks pretty but she's shallow and extremely materialistic. You get the feeling she's not all there. She's fun to be with at first, but soon you realize two things. One, she seems to be just repeating what people have said before. Two, she's actually only 14-years-old. You were just completely bedazzled initially by her looks to notice.

So after an awkward first conta- meeting, you finally drop her back off at her place. You're feeling a bit regretful at the whole affair and kinda want your cab fare back (along with the other expenses she managed to accrue along the way). The door opens and 'lo and behold. Her dad is there. It's motherfucking Crusader Kings II. He's shirtless, abs glistening with sweat like he just finished another exhilarating workout. Hair parted in that perfect way that accentuates his perfect face. his eyes brimming with the spark and wisdom of age. He smiles a bit at you, knowingly with a dash of smugness that comes across as just beautiful in every way. There are a few scars on his chest which mark the signs of his intense battle to get to where he is. His hand decorated with the blood of the heathen. His magnificent DEUS VULT under the towel that he greets you in, huge in size and bursting with... DLC.

You take another look at Stellaris. She eyes you coquettishly, though you can't help but remind yourself how young she is, especially when compared to her father.

You realize what she might be when she becomes an adult, her pedigree might take her far.

But for now, you toss Stellaris into the bushes and jump into the arms of Crusader Kings II.

Post this as a steam review. More people deserve to see it.

You mind if I quote steal that for my steam review of the game?

Go ahead, just link the thread or something.

[JimboM12]

Thank you, I just did. That's so about to become #1 review for Stellaris. It starts with a link to the post and i copy pasted the little anecdote too.

[NullForceOmega]

I really enjoy the early game, much more than in most 4x really, but once you find a couple of other empires it goes downhill fast.  I think that part of the problem is that the AI empires expand at a ridiculous rate, thereby swallowing up huge chunks of the map and making the game basically a galactic-scale sumo match.  Also, the various diplomacy elements need serious work, it is nearly impossible to form alliances with nations that even slightly differ in ethics, and unnecessarily hard to get trade agreements that are actually balanced.

[Xgamer4]

I like what they're trying to do with the sector system, but the AI definitely needs improvement, or you need a better way of telling it what to do.

From a big picture point of view, I think the sector system is going to be key to making the game more of a GSG and less of a vanilla 4X. Treat them more like vassals in CK2. They should have their own elections, and optionally you can intervene or force your own leaders to run in them. Some kind of centralization policy could determine how much power and influence sectors have: at the lowest centralization levels, your sectors behave more like tributaries than cohesive parts of your empire.

Factions are cool, but they're not enough (yet).

Something that probably should be tinkered with is allowing factions to form with the ultimate goal of becoming their own sector, based on something like distance from empire center, differences in population makeup, ability of central government to exert control (so an additional concern if you intentionally, long-term, run past the Core cap), etc. I'm not sure how well it'd work in practice, but on paper it seems like their might be potential.

[LoSboccacc]

Yeah the faction system is open for so much interesting stuff instead they have almost no theets, there was this guy purging his whole empire and the faction for 'let us live' never went over 5% of the people iirc

[IronyOwl]

I like what they're trying to do with the sector system, but the AI definitely needs improvement, or you need a better way of telling it what to do.

From a big picture point of view, I think the sector system is going to be key to making the game more of a GSG and less of a vanilla 4X. Treat them more like vassals in CK2. They should have their own elections, and optionally you can intervene or force your own leaders to run in them. Some kind of centralization policy could determine how much power and influence sectors have: at the lowest centralization levels, your sectors behave more like tributaries than cohesive parts of your empire.

Factions are cool, but they're not enough (yet).

Something that probably should be tinkered with is allowing factions to form with the ultimate goal of becoming their own sector, based on something like distance from empire center, differences in population makeup, ability of central government to exert control (so an additional concern if you intentionally, long-term, run past the Core cap), etc. I'm not sure how well it'd work in practice, but on paper it seems like their might be potential.

In the dev diary, they mentioned that sectors were supposed to tie into factions much more heavily, so hopefully that's in the queue.

I think that part of the problem is that the AI empires expand at a ridiculous rate, thereby swallowing up huge chunks of the map and making the game basically a galactic-scale sumo match.

In Stellaris' defense, this is an issue with pretty much every 4X. It's still unfortunate and intersects poorly with a bunch of other issues, though.

[Flying Dice]

Yeah, every 4X I've played where the AI aren't potatoes is dominated by the initial colonization race.

By the by, anyone tried it yet? Patchnotes changed "core planet" to "core system" and I'm curious if that's a typo/unimplemented change or if they actually did it.

[umiman]

Yeah, every 4X I've played where the AI aren't potatoes is dominated by the initial colonization race.

By the by, anyone tried it yet? Patchnotes changed "core planet" to "core system" and I'm curious if that's a typo/unimplemented change or if they actually did it.

It's intended.

[PTTG??]

That is a nice change. There are a couple of instances where I want to have control of at least one specific planet in a system but the three other colonized worlds are just dross...

Ok, here's my alternative drive idea:

Leap Drive: No maximum range. Actual travel time is instant. However, ships have both a moderate cooldown-on-arrival state, and a warmup period that is proportionate to the distance traveled, and canceling a jump resets the warmup entirely. The entire transit, from warmup to arrival, takes slightly more time than Warp would in a nonstop straight line. Additionally, ships preparing to jump have increased energy upkeep. The advantages are that you can always take the most direct route between two points, and that ships can effectively change their minds partway through the jump, although they lose all the progress they made. Attempting to jump across the galaxy would take multiple years of warmup, and a significant energy cost!

[Flying Dice]

That seems really bad. The advantage of Warp is the versatility. Any system to any system with no infrastructure, and the ability to rapidly respond regardless of where the fleet is. In other words, you can start a fleet warp-jumping towards a problem spot and divert it a few weeks later to adapt to changing circumstances. That "Leap" drive has the same inflexibility of Wormhole drives without the benefits at anything beyond normal Warp drive ranges, since if you need the ships somewhere else, you've basically got to eat the energy cost and accept the wasted charge-up time.

Still better than Hyperdrive in all-FTL matches though. :V

[Loud Whispers]

Hyperdrive only games are the only ones where Fortresses become linchpins

[Teneb]

Still better than Hyperdrive in all-FTL matches though. :V

Hyperdrive actually can be great at war, since it allows for hit-and-run strikes (since you don't need to go to the edge of a system to leave it).


EDIT: Okay, I got to ask since I would rather believe that I am doing something wrong rather than the alternative: is there a way to stop sector AI from emancipating slaves? I want to enslave the pops on a planet, but it keeps reverting the decision thus allowing for a massive independence faction (rather than an even split between docile and rebel slaves).

[Flying Dice]

Hyperdrive only games are the only ones where Fortresses become linchpins

Yeah, I play pretty much nothing except Hyperdrive-only now. The others allow for too much stupid leapfrogging and chasing in addition to what you mentioned about fixed defenses. It also helps slow down the colonization boom.

[mainiac]

I slowed down the colonization boom with a quick fix mod that massively lowered population growth.  The problem isn't that it's too easy to grab planets, it's that they become full populated in four years.  Lower the growth to 1 pop in 30 years and land grab stops being automatic victory.  It's still easy to beat the AI but it takes longer.

[Orange Wizard]

Thought I was playing the 1.2 beta, wondered why everything was unchanged, realised I was playing on 1.0.2.

Fug