Stellaris

[Cyborg]

2 Fleets occupy half the space in battle, meaning for a time twice the ranged firepower compared to 1 big fleet)

Would you please explain this sentence better? Also, I wasn't aware there was a  strategic ordering of ships. They all just seem to fly around together without being able to put some in the front and some in the back.

[Cyborg]

This game looks similar to GalCiv, is it better? How is it better?

I don't get the hate for galactic civilizations. The game is fun. I still like to play it (3).

[eRe4s3r]

@Madcow

Right click (or was it left?) while holding shift when a construction ship is selected on the galaxy map to build mining/research stations on all planets of a system. Hold shift to queue up for more than 1 system ;P

As for the other questions
No it will not build ships (military sector AI is bugged currently)

@Cyborg

It depends on your combat AI (that slot on all ships you can research that doesn't explain wth it's for)
Basically, defensive AI will keep ships stopped at max range, offensive AI will move in. Don't mix ships with different AI's.. otherwise you have a few rushing in, and a few sitting at the back.

What I mean is that you should split your fleets to keep them smaller as 2 fleets fighting at the same time occupy the same space on the map, you want them clumped together since there is no AOE weapon in this game, despite what some weapon descriptions claim. Actually in AI war we called this approach the "blob of doom" which you could create by certain move commands.... it's just as effective in this game and all you need to do is hit split fleets.. ;P

Bad example (fleet I got from an AI vassal) Only reason that fleet is OP as hell is that it's REAAAALLLY well balanced.. AI knows what it is doing ;p


Sidenote: In your game the formation will be clumped together more as one of the mods I use spreads it out and activates collision avoidance and really ignore other ships like it's nothing... so there this bunching up is even more effective, obviously if you had 2 fleets of this size, you would still dominate anything. My point was, don't do it like I do, split this force into 2 and it's 3 times as effective.

And you wonder why? Because you have to imagine ranged circles approaching each other, the enemy has a set amount of ships in the front, so do you, if you have 2 fleets, they occupy the same space, so you have twice as many ships in the front than the enemy. Sadly this is why I kinda dislike this entire combat system. You could say it's abstracted the wrong way... I like the fleets, I hate the lack of any real tactical approach to the battles. It's just rock paper scissors on bigger scale really.

All that said, if you face an enemy that has the rock to your scissors you will epicly lose and never even know why, since you can't see what ships are made of when you are in combat (weirdly enough)

By the way, don't let the firepower readouts confuse you The mod I am using increases cooldowns by 2 to 3 times, meaning firepower of these fleets (in unmodded game) would be well above 20k

Here how it would look if you split a force


Notice ships all in range ;p When I had this fleet combined, the ships in the back would sit back out of range of all their weapons.

[Mánagarmr]

So been playing a bit more and have got to the point where I've started making sectors. And I'm confused. I gave it the military focus - will it actually build ships for me? If so do I get control of it? Seems like it could be done better - made more like CK2.

No. It will focus on Minerals and Energy Credits to SUPPORT having a large fleet. It will not build ships or space ports for you. You can access the individual planets on the Sector tab of the F2 screen. If you click the sector, it unfolds and you have access to all the planets in the sector.

This part of the UI is ill explained and not very optimal. I'm expecting this area of the game shaping up in future patches after the hotfixes are in place.

[madcow]

Wait so combat AI. That's a research option and once you have it lets you pick how aggressive/defensive units are?

[zespri]

This game looks similar to GalCiv, is it better? How is it better?

I don't get the hate for galactic civilizations. The game is fun. I still like to play it (3).

Cyborg, would it be fair to say that from your experience both game are about the same level of fun?

[eRe4s3r]

Wait so combat AI. That's a research option and once you have it lets you pick how aggressive/defensive units are?

Depending on whether you equip aggressive or combat AI stances on your ship design in that behavior module slot then yeah.. those are not just for the HP+Evasion or DMG+Firerate bonus ,P The larger the fleet the messier it gets if you have mismatching behavior modules ...

[Toranth]

Hmm, well, 50 hours in, and I finally have a game into the endgame.  And it's... boring? 

There are only 2 victory conditions.
1) Conquer everyone, or
2) Own 40% of the galaxies habitable planets (Which the game tells me is about 250).  I have 60-something.

The "Endgame Crisis" appeared about 150 years into the game.  Extra-galactic invaders!  Massive hostile fleet, going to conquer us all!  Or, actually, maybe it will appear on the exact opposite side of the galaxy, conquer 20-30 worlds, then completely stall out.  The alliance of empires being invaded actually have enough free-time to go off and fight wars with other people WHILE holding the Tyranids invaders to a standstill.  In the century-plus since their first conquests, absolutely nothing has happened.  Disappointing.
I've conquered all three Fallen Empires in the galaxy.  Easily.
I've discovered all the techs that aren't event based.  I'm level 4 or 5 of every repeating tech, too.

I think I may finish this game, play out one or two more (in small galaxies), then put the game on the shelf until there are a few expansions out and some alternate victory conditions.  At least Civilization always had the spaceship to finish off an already won game...

[Cyborg]

This game looks similar to GalCiv, is it better? How is it better?

I don't get the hate for galactic civilizations. The game is fun. I still like to play it (3).

Cyborg, would it be fair to say that from your experience both game are about the same level of fun?

I am enjoying stellaris a little bit more, mainly because it feels like there are more knobs to turn. But clearly, we're talking about very similar genres. It's just got the paradox treatment, which is a good thing.

[eRe4s3r]

Hmm, well, 50 hours in, and I finally have a game into the endgame.  And it's... boring? 

I've encountered that same stall, finishing my first round was... a mental probe more than fun.
Essentially once all the uniqueness is passé, it's just another "paint the galaxy your color" game But at least it isn't half-assed for the most part. Except victory conditions, those are the most half-assed thing in this game. It kinda reminds me of CIV:BE, weird I know, but even as much half-assing as was done by Firaxis in CIV:BE, they had the end-game properly planned out.

I actually applaud them for trying to circumvent this capture everything thing by going the "vassal -> integrate" route instead of the "capture planets, then they flip" route... but what it comes down to at the end is a manageable (because naval limit of 1000) 4x that has the opposite problem of SOTS1. Where in SOTS1 end-game is a huge mess of thousands of fleets, in ST it is a drawn out mess because warscore, alliances, everything wasn't designed for major empires.

You know, this perfectly fits paradox games though, since EU4 is known as the "speed 5 simulator" since all other speeds are completely absurdly slow and might just as well be replaced by proper pause/resume management. Same applies for ST, if you are not playing at fastest you are not really playing the game, you are watching stellar paint grow.

One of the things that bugs me the most is that the much touted sectors actually are just really dumb (because slow, don't build influence costing buildings, and can't properly manage pop) planet governors. Once I realized that, I made a sector per planet for new colonies, let them sit around a bit till they have 6 pop, then build the planet myself how I want it. This often gives it the basics needed for a colony.

It also does like absolutely not at all make any sense why this isn't just a toggle per planet "Activate AI gov" and done. Sectors are the one thing in this game that is completely half-assed... they don't even WORK like you would expect a galactic sector to work in a big empire. There is no political plays involved, and it's really hard to say whether this is a Paradox game at all because of it.

Finally, combat.. wedge formation, weird AI quirks.. the WHOLE FTL nonsense the ai can pull, the lack of any real planetary defense on starports...

As far as 4x goes this is OK (6.9/10), but since someone asked it, I don't think it is better than Galciv 2. It is substantially inferior to SOTS1, for all the weird stuff in that game, at least it has flavor. Stellaris is just too sterile to invoke any feeling of galactic space empire. The one thing that might have turned that are those galactic events, but aside from being bugged (all of them) they are also weirdly inconsequential, as if someone at Paradox thought "hey let's add this, but make sure they don't do too much dmg" which is like.. what? And why can't I let my allies fight with me during these events?

Whoops, so much text..

TL;DR, this is not the greatest 4x ever made.. yet. It remains to be seen what comes in patches (no doubt dozens of DLC's) and with mods...

[Mánagarmr]

I've said it before somewhere. Stellaris is the core of the best 4x out there. It's just unfinished and in places unpolished.

[madcow]

Paradox have unveiled some of their plans for the next free patches. It includes fixes to sector AI and some more midgame content and diplomacy options.

I expect this is going to be a game that will only improve with time.

[Mánagarmr]

Paradox have unveiled some of their plans for the next free patches. It includes fixes to sector AI and some more midgame content and diplomacy options.

I expect this is going to be a game that will only improve with time.

This. As stated earlier; the core is great for the most part. It just needs more stuff and a fix here and there.

[eRe4s3r]

Paradox have unveiled some of their plans for the next free patches. It includes fixes to sector AI and some more midgame content and diplomacy options.

I expect this is going to be a game that will only improve with time.

This. As stated earlier; the core is great for the most part. It just needs more stuff and a fix here and there.

Uh, the core is not great "for the most part" imo....

Well I mod and play the game, but let me tell you this review (take the time to read it please)
http://www.quartertothree.com/fp/2016/05/18/bone-dry-sci-fi-stellaris-game-doesnt-even-work/
reverberated with me far more than I thought it would. Yes, that is a 1 out of 5 review, and that is exactly where I would rate Stellaris after 3 completed rounds (1 with my mod, which was the first round that was actual FUN in the mid-game, although the GUI issues nearly drove me insane).

This game (Stellaris) is in essence 2 games, 1 is the mildly interesting because "unique" start of the game, you explore, find events, they have neat text, interesting lore and everything is fresh and new that is FUN.. that is act 1, and act 1 repeats 60 billion times the longer you play, by the 5th time you see event number 31 you will loath it. Then you have the 2nd game, the "paint the stars your color and spam ships which you have to build manually through the worst GUI (3 clicks to build a ship on 1 planet) where wars are at best about 3 planets since the AI can't handle wargoals correctly... and you have a vassal/alliance fleet AI that will constantly follow your main fleet around like an idiot, while it's own planets are bombed and invaded on the other side of the map. Or in essence, you have a weird explorations strategy part which is fun, and then you have the rest of the game, which isn't the same game whatsoever. When in a Paradox game did you ever start randomly invading other nations willy nilly because that was your only way to "win" ?

I have played a game on a 1000 star map, it was an unplayable annoying mess. Why you wonder? Because at some point you will amass "Threat" (since AI will draw you into wars constantly) which is a -50 to -200 modifier to stance of aliens.. woohooo. That means your end-game will, for the most part, consist of endless wars (see above, GUI issues, AI issues etc.).

But the worst offense is that the game is sterile. What does this mean? Let me draw a simple mental image here

ELDAR

ZERG

CHAOS

ORC

Conglomerate of Banturai

Guess which race is from Stellaris. Or better put, I bet you have a mental image for each of these races in your head right now.
Notice the problem yet? There are no unique races in Stellaris. The races are all identically at heart, and I really mean that they are identical by being a bunch of values, there is no mechanical difference between any of them. There isn't even a playable swarm hivemind race in the game without mods, and that race still builds happiness boosting buildings on it's planet (why???). The only interesting races in the game are (funnily enough) end-game events that for the most part sizzle out because they are badly coded and made.

This whole race thing would not be a problem if the game would properly decide WHO THE PLAYER IS. Currently in Stellaris I have to ask the honest question, who am I playing? I am clearly not the empire leader because I am tasked with silly tasks like giving research ships per system survey orders (Automate explore MIA)

Anyway, the more I think about it the less I like the game and the more I hope for mods to really revamp it ;p

I wouldn't even go as far as say that the game is a "gem" in hiding. Because without mods there is no gem. If you removed the flashy graphics you could call this game a spreadsheet. It has about as much flair ;P While in Eu4 I felt like a medieval king under constant threat.. in Stellars I feel like some management AI tasked with conquering the galaxy. (The joke is not even that part is properly polished...)

I am actually in so far conflicted as I have played this for 56 hours before reaching the point where I could see beneath the surface of the game design and discover layers of good intentions and bad executions everywhere. Modding this game was primarily the source of this discovery, when you see how it works in detail, you realize what a brittle and not at all properly decorated concept this game was when it was made....

I have no doubt mods CAN change this game to something astounding, but for that massive overhaul of everything is needed, and many things are sadly hardcoded.

Anyway, were this a Steam review, I would thumbs-down the game ;P

[Toranth]

Paradox have unveiled some of their plans for the next free patches. It includes fixes to sector AI and some more midgame content and diplomacy options.

I expect this is going to be a game that will only improve with time.

This. As stated earlier; the core is great for the most part. It just needs more stuff and a fix here and there.

Uh, the core is not great "for the most part" imo....

While I agree with pretty much every complaint you have, I think that Stellaris can be fixed without any major modifications to the core.  Bug fixes, more events and crises, more personality for Leaders and Races, improved combat, expanded national relations...  The framework to support all of this is already there, but the game was released without the substance.

I think the absolute biggest problem right now is the lack of reasonable victory conditions.  If there was something to do, something to aim for, after the initial exploration and expansion phase, then I would probably enjoy the game much more.  I expect this is the result of a Grand Strategy design team trying to dabble in 4X world without really understanding it.

Looking back at Crusader Kings 2, for example, the expansions added so much additional content that the current product is almost a different game - yet it's still built on the same core principles.  I can't imagine playing vanilla CK2, and I hope that it a year or so, after a few expansions, Stellaris will be equally as good.

Even if it doesn't, I enjoyed the first half of the few games I've played.  That makes it better than Star Drive, or Pegasus, or SotS2, or... the number of failed 4x games these past few years is amazing.
Actually, Stellaris in its current state reminds me a lot of Distant Worlds: Universe - decent ideas not fleshed out, and poor execution in places.