Stellaris III: Shop at the Paradox Megacorp!

[Caelestion]

Utopia and Plantoids to begin with. The other stuff can wait until you're tens of hours into the game.

[Narkis]

I haven't played any space-4X-games for 10+ years,
and GOG has Stellaris on sale now.

So, what addons can you recommand ?

Leviathans: Adds boss monsters and neutral stations. Nice, but nothing you're gonna miss.
Utopia: Adds megastructures like ringworld, habitats that act like small planets, perks you pick during the game that various benefits to your empire, allows you to play as a Hive Mind, etc, etc. Can't imagine playing without it now.
Synthetic Dawn: Adds stuff about robots, the most important being the ability to play as a machine empire, like Skynet or the Borg. Get it if you care about that, skip if you don't.
Apocalypse: Adds Planet Killers and Titan ships. Surprisingly underwhelming.
Distant Stars: Adds a cluster of systems reached only by specific gateways you can unlock later in the game, and an associated quest chain. Adds various events. Something to get after you've seen the events of the base game.
MegaCorp: Adds Ecumenopolis, planet-wide cities like Trantor or Coruscant. Also adds the titular Megacorporations, which aren't different enough from a normal empire to be worth it. Essentialy, get it only if you want the city planet.
Ancient Relics: Came out today. Supposedly adds stuff about xenoarcheology and ancient relics. Haven't played enough to tell if it's worth it.

The Plantoids and Humanoids Species pack are both cosmetic only. Check the screenshots, buy them if you like what you see.

In sort, buy Utopia for sure, MegaCorp and Synthetic Dawn if you want to play as what they unlock. The rest aren't as important.

[Aotrs Commander]

I'd recommend Distant Worlds slightly higher than Narkis, as being able to explore the majority of the galaxy and not run into repeat events makes for a considerably better exploration game, in my opinion - that extra event varity is very worth it, in my opinion.

(I also enjoyed playing a Megacorp myself - being more mindful of having to play tall was a nice change of pace, given my normal wide playstyle...)

Otherwise, yeah, Narkis is pretty much on the money, I think.

[Olinser]

I haven't played any space-4X-games for 10+ years,
and GOG has Stellaris on sale now.

So, what addons can you recommand ?

Glavius AI mod. Without it the AI is impossibly stupid.

Anything else is niche.

[factotum]

Glavius AI mod. Without it the AI is impossibly stupid.

Even in 2.3?

[tonberrian]

Playing 2.3 unmodded, can confirm AI still stupid. I don't know what possesses it to build so many rare resource refineries, but it does, constantly, while the optimal strategy seems to be just buying infinite resources off the market.

Also, holy ****, just found a Relic quest that ended up giving me +20% resources from jobs, and +10 stability. EVERYWHERE. The mind boggles.

[Olinser]

Even in 2.3?

It's a bit improved, so they they aren't still-building-corvette/destroyer-fleets-after-200-years stupid like they were a few patches ago, but they're still nowhere near where the AI was before their abortion of a game redesign in 2.2.

Even advance start Grand Admiral AIs are only a threat in about the first 20 years or so if they start close to you, and even then they're relatively easy to beat.

Without mods, the AI is no threat past the early game because they are incapable of actually maintaining a functioning economy even with HUGE bonuses, their colonization is painfully slow for worlds inside their borders, they build very little research so they are ludicrously slow to get even mid-level techs, they tend to build large numbers of useless or low-use buildings (precinct spamming lasted way, WAY too long), they basically never build advanced resource buildings so they get no upgraded buildings (further crippling their mid and end game), and they make totally random choices from the techs they DO get.

In short the AI is functionally incapable of playing the game. At year 50 I'd say 'Grand Admiral' AI on the current build is about equivalent to 'Cadet' AI in pre-2.2.

[Caelestion]

Well, Plantoids isn't entirely cosmetic, as you do get the titular species group, unlike, say, Humanoids or the "cuties", which only add to existing species groups.

[Narkis]

Glavius AI mod. Without it the AI is impossibly stupid.

Anything else is niche.

Wait, I thought I read in the patch notes they added Glavius's fixes into the base game. Was it not the case?

Well, Plantoids isn't entirely cosmetic, as you do get the titular species group, unlike, say, Humanoids or the "cuties", which only add to existing species groups.

But there is no functional difference between species groups other than looks.

[factotum]

Wait, I thought I read in the patch notes they added Glavius's fixes into the base game. Was it not the case?

The patch notes stated they added Glavius' "job weightings" (which I assume are the likelihood a pop will go for a particular job), not the entire kit and caboodle.

[tonberrian]

Eugh. I'm getting tons of lag yearly on 1/01, and now that I've completed synth ascension tons of lag on planet screens.

[Silverraptor]

Well, Plantoids isn't entirely cosmetic, as you do get the titular species group, unlike, say, Humanoids or the "cuties", which only add to existing species groups.

It doesn't change anything game-wise. I only got this when it was on a low enough sale since it didn't change my experience other then add more different looking aliens. Still haven't gotten humanoids because I think half the species and the human design looks stupid.

[Narkis]

The patch notes stated they added Glavius' "job weightings" (which I assume are the likelihood a pop will go for a particular job), not the entire kit and caboodle.

That's a shame. They really should add the whole thing, and maybe hire Glavius himself.

Speaking of mods, which ones are you guys using? I have Glavius, obviously, Tiny Outliner so I can see abd select things in my empire without constant scrolling and Downscaled Ships which makes the ship scale much better imho.

[Silverraptor]

Has anyone else's pops been jumping around between the different job positions month after month, causing my income in all the different resources to change wildly that it's impossible to know if I'm handling it properly or not?

[tonberrian]

Has anyone else's pops been jumping around between the different job positions month after month, causing my income in all the different resources to change wildly that it's impossible to know if I'm handling it properly or not?

No, I hear this is a problem with having a deficit in food though. It increases the priority for food dramatically when you're at zero with a deficit, but then next month it finds itself with a surplus so it goes back to regular positions, which leads to a deficit the next month, and the cycle repeats.

I keep my jobs available pretty much even with the pops i have to work with, so they can't move around all that much.

[Silverraptor]

No, I hear this is a problem with having a deficit in food though. It increases the priority for food dramatically when you're at zero with a deficit, but then next month it finds itself with a surplus so it goes back to regular positions, which leads to a deficit the next month, and the cycle repeats.

I keep my jobs available pretty much even with the pops i have to work with, so they can't move around all that much.

Oh okay. That does make sense.

[Caelestion]

Apparently Stellaris is free-to-play on Xbox One from 3rd to 6th June.

[hajo]

...
Distant Stars: Adds a cluster of systems reached only by specific gateways ...
Ancient Relics: Came out today. ... Haven't played enough to tell if it's worth it.
The Plantoids and Humanoids Species pack are both cosmetic only...
In sort, buy Utopia for sure, MegaCorp and Synthetic Dawn if you want to play as what they unlock.
The rest aren't as important.

Thanks for that summary !
I just found a review that points in the same general direction.

[tonberrian]

Ancient Relics is fun, but repetitive. There's not nearly enough dig sites currently, and I've seen a couple repeat between three games. The Rubricator in particular anomaly-based, and is too high a weight in general and also bugged in multiplayer - you can spawn the anomaly once per player, and that will spawn a system with the relic world multiple times, though only the first will actually have the dig site for the Rubricator. Others I've hit twice include the Omnimatrix codex and the Oracle.

[Olinser]

Ancient Relics is fun, but repetitive. There's not nearly enough dig sites currently, and I've seen a couple repeat between three games. The Rubricator in particular anomaly-based, and is too high a weight in general and also bugged in multiplayer - you can spawn the anomaly once per player, and that will spawn a system with the relic world multiple times, though only the first will actually have the dig site for the Rubricator. Others I've hit twice include the Omnimatrix codex and the Oracle.

Some of them are ludicrously broken.

Somebody got a Titan from one with 3x Kinetic Artillery and Dark Matter Shields when he was still on Destroyer tech.

[tonberrian]

Some of them are ludicrously broken.

Somebody got a Titan from one with 3x Kinetic Artillery and Dark Matter Shields when he was still on Destroyer tech.

The titan lacks point defense, and a dedicated force can kill it. And when they DO it drops all the dark matter techs. It's non-trivial to use properly, and you're still limited in how fast you can expand by your influence.

I mean, it's a little broken. But so is the baby amoeba if you get it early enough.

Edit: And they do plan on adjusting it.

[Guancyto]

There are two impediments to early expansion: getting enough firepower to crack open starbases, and influence.

The thing about the Titan is it has enough fleet power to instantly make all other civilizations rate inferior to you, and starbases are the only thing big enough for it to shoot at that stage in the game. It doesn't even need to fight corvette swarms, because it's faster than them thanks to dark matter thrusters.

It is basically a Turn All Your Neighbors Into Tributaries button.

[Silverraptor]

Some of them are ludicrously broken.

Somebody got a Titan from one with 3x Kinetic Artillery and Dark Matter Shields when he was still on Destroyer tech.

The titan lacks point defense, and a dedicated force can kill it. And when they DO it drops all the dark matter techs. It's non-trivial to use properly, and you're still limited in how fast you can expand by your influence.

I mean, it's a little broken. But so is the baby amoeba if you get it early enough.

Edit: And they do plan on adjusting it.

There are two impediments to early expansion: getting enough firepower to crack open starbases, and influence.

The thing about the Titan is it has enough fleet power to instantly make all other civilizations rate inferior to you, and starbases are the only thing big enough for it to shoot at that stage in the game. It doesn't even need to fight corvette swarms, because it's faster than them thanks to dark matter thrusters.

It is basically a Turn All Your Neighbors Into Tributaries button.

Yeeeeaaahhhh... just going to leave this here...

[BannedInSchool]

Hmm, I looked at the district revamp back when it came out, but haven't played a full game of it till now. I'm probably completely boning my economy, but I was dominating the galaxy. Then a War in Heaven started. I thought I could pick off one of the fleets with my entire navy, being nearly twice by displayed fleet strength IIRC, but got wrecked. If I knew anything about custom counter-ships I forgot in my break from the game. Looks like my Large weapons on my battleships can't hit their destroyers as my hit rate is awful. They're also using some fighters. My awakened allies are still in #1 on the leaderboard, but I don't know what they think they're doing; I've seen them engage the other AE once. And now there's a Ghost Signal, so I'm figuring I'm riding to a loss.

[BannedInSchool]

And now there's a Ghost Signal, so I'm figuring I'm riding to a loss.

Well, I got my economy more sorted-out so I can build ships at a good rate, after having to abandon my homeworld in a fighting retreat and turning to conquer what I could elsewhere for resources. My Awakened Overlord got his lunch eaten by the Contingency; I'm guessing a horrible ship match-up, but I didn't really look since there's nothing I can do about it. The Cybrex showed up because it was taking so long, but after some initial success got beaten back to their home system. I took out two or three Hubs myself on my march back to the homeworld. It was a little embarrassing that I had forgotten exactly where it was and was surprised when I got there. The Awakened Baddie was occupying my home territory. I recaptured one of my old core planets before they sent in their main fleet, which I took out ending the War in Heaven without me getting all my planets back.

[Anonymouswizard]

Well I reloaded my Glorious Republic Democratic People's Commonwealth of Man game because I got the itching to play again, and two hours later I'm sitting on my neighbour's homeworld with their fleet destroyed and the rest of their systems unclaimed only because I wanted to nab the systems on my other border before any of the other Empires do. They've claimed three of my systems in some sort of retaliation, despite the fact that I'm sitting on at least half as much again in terms of Fleet Power, out produce them by a large margin, and have a fleet directly parked in their so called 'system of origin' at all times.

And it occurs to me that the only reason I'm not the cackling villain of the galaxy is because I haven't strictly enslaved the species yet. I'm kind of happy leaving them as second class citizens instead of removing all their rights, and I don't need to start purging until they get uppity.


I'm planning to pick up Utopia as a late birthday present from me to me, because darn it I want to create the Glorious People's (cordless) Dyson Sphere at some point.

[BannedInSchool]

They've claimed three of my systems in some sort of retaliation, despite the fact that I'm sitting on at least half as much again in terms of Fleet Power, out produce them by a large margin, and have a fleet directly parked in their so called 'system of origin' at all times.

And maybe the horse will learn to sing! But, no, I doubt the AI is that strategic in making claims. The systems are all on the border? And they already don't like you?

[Anonymouswizard]

And maybe the horse will learn to sing! But, no, I doubt the AI is that strategic in making claims. The systems are all on the border? And they already don't like you?

Nope. One is about four systems into my territory, contains Unity, and isn't connected to any of the other systems they've claimed.

Okay, yeah, the AI isn't being that strategic in making claims, but it's still a strange set of claims to make. I'm waiting until the truce is over before I go and pinch another couple of planets.

[thirsting]

Oh wow. Crystal Nidus Origo Ore, what ever that is, is an awesome "friend" to have in early game, in a system right next to warmongering neighbour. They keep smashing their heads against the wall that is our crystal pals.

Is there any downside, besides increased influence costs, to acquiring systems that are not directly connected to your empire?

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Is there any downside, besides increased influence costs, to acquiring systems that are not directly connected to your empire?

Working from memory, the other concern is piracy, if you intend to set up a trade route to or through that system. But it's been a while, so I could be either forgetting something, something has changed, or both.

Grey Wolf