Stellaris III: Shop at the Paradox Megacorp!

[DataNinja]

I don't think I've ever seen the event of throwing off the chains of their oppressors and having planets join me out of the blue. How would I go about doing that? Besides stop playing as empires with slaves of my own.

From what I've heard, you have to be a form of Egalitarian, and it's if any of your neighbors have a slave uprising, they'll offer to join you instead of just becoming independent.

[Avaris]

From what I've heard, you have to be a form of Egalitarian, and it's if any of your neighbors have a slave uprising, they'll offer to join you instead of just becoming independent.

Yeah; I’m playing as basic United Nations of Earth, so whatever they have seems to work! It was really funny just having this world go ‘hi, help?’. Fortunately, it turned out they were a way away from the main worlds of the enemy faction, and on the right side of a chokepoint, so it wasn’t too much of a stretch to liberate them!

It was a great story telling moment as well, especially the Empire they seceded from had, in a previous war, broken through my lines and, rather than a more sensible conquest route, hightailed it over to bomb the Gaia world on the other side of my Empire, where refugees from another species they had subjugated had fled to! They are definitely the villains here!

[Eldan]

Sounds like they need a good Liberation war.

Meanwhile, I started my game over. Was playing a small galaxy, because I didn't want the hassle of a big one, and it turns out out of six empires, it's me, 3 hiveminds, an advanced start and a military isolationist.

[Fyraltari]

Hey, I've bought the base game a couple of weeks ago and I have just under five hours of play right now.

It's been fun so far, but the beginning was very confused. This game throws a lot at you at once. I almost bankrupted myself because I hadn't figured out:
A) I could sell my excess food for ressources,
B) Some of my buildings were costing more to maintain than they produced,
C) Having to many space stattions lows down productivity? and
D) where I could see the amount of money I had.

But it's all fine now. I have also made friend with my first alien species! They're a bunch of isolationists, "fanatically authoritarian" who see their citizenry as disposable cogs in their machine.

I guess they're going to be a problem somewhere down the line...

Two questions though:

1) I'm not playing humans, are they going to spawn for sure or is it random?
2) My guys come from a tropical world, does that mean I can only colonize tropical worlds? 'coz I haven't seen many of those so far.

[Grim Portent]

1) I'm not playing humans, are they going to spawn for sure or is it random?

Humans don't always spawn, but the Sol system always does. Humans can be alive and pre-space flight in various stages, spawn as the United Nations of Earth (nice guys, based on Earth) and their counterpart the Commonwealth of Man (bad guys, not based on Earth), or they can be extinct. If they're extinct, having nuked themselves before achieving FTL, their will be a species of pre-sapients roaches living on earth instead.

2) My guys come from a tropical world, does that mean I can only colonize tropical worlds? 'coz I haven't seen many of those so far.

You can colonise any world, but you get some penalties the lower your habitability is on the world in question. Ocean and Temparate worlds are part of the same category as Tropical (Wet) so they're the next best common worlds for you.

Depending on your ethics you can try to get some aliens who like other climates or build robots to inhabit other worlds for you. You can also terraform planets to your preferred climate, genetically modify your people to live on other worlds more comfortably or research a tech that lets them modify themselves and dump them where ever you want and let them deal with it.

Gaia, relic, ring, ecumenopolis and habitats are all equally habitable regardless of traits, but they're rare or need to be made by players/AI.

[Fyraltari]

Humans don't always spawn, but the Sol system always does. Humans can be alive and pre-space flight in various stages, spawn as the United Nations of Earth (nice guys, based on Earth) and their counterpart the Commonwealth of Man (bad guys, not based on Earth), or they can be extinct. If they're extinct, having nuked themselves before achieving FTL, their will be a species of pre-sapients roaches living on earth instead.



You can colonise any world, but you get some penalties the lower your habitability is on the world in question. Ocean and Temparate worlds are part of the same category as Tropical (Wet) so they're the next best common worlds for you.

Depending on your ethics you can try to get some aliens who like other climates or build robots to inhabit other worlds for you. You can also terraform planets to your preferred climate, genetically modify your people to live on other worlds more comfortably or research a tech that lets them modify themselves and dump them where ever you want and let them deal with it.

Gaia, relic, ring, ecumenopolis and habitats are all equally habitable regardless of traits, but they're rare or need to be made by players/AI.

Thanks for your answers!

[GloatingSwine]

Humans don't always spawn, but the Sol system always does. Humans can be alive and pre-space flight in various stages, spawn as the United Nations of Earth (nice guys, based on Earth) and their counterpart the Commonwealth of Man (bad guys, not based on Earth), or they can be extinct. If they're extinct, having nuked themselves before achieving FTL, their will be a species of pre-sapients roaches living on earth instead..

If the Commonwealth of Man spawns (or you play as them) the UNE also always spawns. I don't think it's guaranteed the other way around. (This also happens if you generate a custom empire by modifying the CoM).

[tonberrian]

There's also the chance for some robots that reclaim earth as well. I forget their civics.

Edit: Earth Custodianship! They're rogue servitors.

And you can also have humans spawn as a Fallen Empire, but they don't get earth in that instance. I had Earth Custodianship and Fallen Empire humans in the same game once.

[Avaris]

Continuing my first play through, and an interesting thing I’m seeing now is how a faction can hold a lot of systems and still essentially be defeated due to economy collapse. The hostile empire I mentioned in previous post used to be a major threat, but I think they overstretched significantly and then lost some resource gathering systems in a succession of wars. This meant that, far from the difficult war I had been preparing for next time we fought, I was able to invade and sweep up some 20 systems without them ever sending a fleet to respond. They still have at least half a dozen worlds, and maybe 20 or so systems, but they’ve lost at least 30 fully mined systems to me and others, some of which were a very long way away from their home, so must have been a drain on resources while still owned.

Similarly, the Commonwealth of Man has still got a fair few systems, but following what looks to have been a costly war only has two worlds, and no military fleets. I’m in a Defensive Pact with them, so may try to restore them if they end up in another war, or may simply vassalise them, if that’s worth doing?

Just researched Battleships as well, so that’ll be fun to return to after Christmas! Staying with just base game atm, but bought all the 50% off dlc ready for my next game.

[Eldan]

Humans can also spawn as a primitive world. I've found Renaissance Earth before. There's also post-Apocalyptic earth inhabited by cockroach-people.

For colonization, you should see a Habitability percentage on every world. I think 60% is still settleable, but you get penalties the lower below 0% it is. There's biological traits that make your race more adaptable (flat percentage bonus on all habitability), there's technologies and traditions that increase it and there's of course terraforming later.

[Artanis]

Humans can also spawn as a primitive world. I've found Renaissance Earth before. There's also post-Apocalyptic earth inhabited by cockroach-people.

For colonization, you should see a Habitability percentage on every world. I think 60% is still settleable, but you get penalties the lower below 0% it is. There's biological traits that make your race more adaptable (flat percentage bonus on all habitability), there's technologies and traditions that increase it and there's of course terraforming later.

Habitability only goes from 0% to 100%. Anything below 100% gives penalties, but it isn't really that bad until habitability starts getting low. Even 0% is technically colonizable, but it's going to really suck.

Hovering over the habitability will bring up a popup showing exactly what the penalties are.

[The Glyphstone]

Plus, you can get up to +20% habitability eventually just by researching technology (i think, maybe +15?).

[ShneekeyTheLost]

So, necro races can apparently get an undead Aether Drake once they kill it, which is worth over 100k fleet strength. Furthermore, they can also get an undead version of the dragon from the Rubricator event, which is similarly sized.

Let that sink in a moment, without even getting Titans, you could end up with two 100k+ units plus whatever fleet you have put together.

Oh, that big skeleton event? Yea, that can get turned into a huge army. Like 500+ attack strength and immune to morale.

[GloatingSwine]

Yeah, you need the Reanimators civic to get those things.

[Grim Portent]

Yep, you can also reanimate the Void Spawn and Tiyanki Matriarch. Takes ages in the early game because it costs society research, but it's well worth it for a mid game fleet to bully the AI.

They die quite easily in late game fights mind you, they get focused down easily, so I just leave them guarding my home system or Terminal Egress.

[GloatingSwine]

Yep, you can also reanimate the Void Spawn and Tiyanki Matriarch. Takes ages in the early game because it costs society research, but it's well worth it for a mid game fleet to bully the AI.

They die quite easily in late game fights mind you, they get focused down easily, so I just leave them guarding my home system or Terminal Egress.

You mean guarding Bubbles.

No harm may come to Bubbles. That is the law of Stellaris. Even Fanatical Purifiers know it.

[Grim Portent]

That reminds me, necromancers can reaminate Bubbles.

[tonberrian]

That reminds me, necromancers can reaminate Bubbles.

Heresy! You cannot corrupt Bubbles' sacred form like that!

[KillianHawkeye]

I finally started a Federation for the first time. I don't usually play a friendly diplomatic race, so it's a bit new to me. But it's holiday themed; I'm trying to spread peace and gifts to all the galaxy!

Also, brain slugs! Must spread the brain slugs!

And I got Bubbles, although I'm calling him Rudolph.

[Taevyr]

And I got Bubbles, although I'm calling him Rudolph.

Rudolph is just a different way to spell Bubbles. There is no stopping the Bubbles.

[Fyraltari]

So the galactic community just got unlocked, which means I suddenly discovered the rest of the empires of the galaxy. Turns out I'm the weakest of the lot and the only democratic and non-aggressive.

I'm also backed in the edges of the galaxy, with a small population of physically weak aliens with a heavy focus on science/engineering.

Have I been playing as the T'au all along without noticing?

[Grim Portent]

That's kinda how things often work out, the AI basically always keep their fleet to a decent strength, so you can lag behind them in your first games before you get the hang of it.

Oldest game I remember, back when there were still 3 FTL choices, I was playing a race of slave taking plant people. Xenophobic militarists I think. The only AI I managed to befriend was egalitarian xenophilic snails, because we had a shared enemy who was closer to me ideologically but hated me regardless. Didn't manage to make friends with anyone other than the snails, and even they didn't like me much. I wasn't even strong relative to the snails, my economy was a mess and my fleets terrible. Got squished fairly early on.

Once you get the hang of balancing an early game economy, expanding at a safe pace and keeping your fleet built up it becomes easy to keep pace with the AI.

[Fyraltari]

Well, there's one civilisation that's like, democratic + very militaristic, relatively close-by and doing rather well. Since I'm the only other democracy in the galaxy, I figure allying with them should be relatively easy.

Since I'm already on good terms with the empire northward, West of me is the intergalactic void and east leads to the center with apparently no empire there, that should give me the time to ramp up my military.

I hope.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

If you're stuck in a corner and can't punch your way out, Habitats are a way of playing 'tall'. Feels bad with the nearly obligate ascension perk tax, but sometimes ya gotta do what you gotta do.

[Fyraltari]

If you're stuck in a corner and can't punch your way out, Habitats are a way of playing 'tall'. Feels bad with the nearly obligate ascension perk tax, but sometimes ya gotta do what you gotta do.

These sure are words!

I don't think I'm stuck, though.

[Grim Portent]

These sure are words!

I don't think I'm stuck, though.

For context, Tall refers to playing with a small number of systems, and usually a small number of colonies in those systems, rather than sprawling out over a big chunk of the galaxy. Lots of really intensely built up worlds, rather than a built up core and barely developed outer fringe of an empire.

Habitats are like mini-planets you can build with the right tech. They cost alloys and influence, but can be built over planetary resource deposits to let you harvest them, which is more efficient than building habitats without a resource below them. They're generally worse than actual planets, but sometimes your growth exceeds what your planets can hold and it's better to make somewhere to send those pops. The AI loves them for some reason, but generally fills them with garbage buildings.

Habitats can be given two extra slots for buildings by an ascension perk, which is generally not worth it unless you need to go heavy on habitats for some reason.


Personal advice, try and beeline for battleship tech if you don't have it already, then build fleets composed almost completely of battleships. Battleships dominate the battlefield, the only thing that they don't basically vaporise outright is other battleships and corvettes. They're not cheap, but a fleet of battleships with some corvettes to sponge up damage, or just straight battleships, is the dominant military strategy in the game.




EDIT: I decided to start a new game with Gigastructures active, this time as the Here Be Dragons squid people I'd been planning on before I got sidetracked. Fan-Spiritualist Authoritarians. Liked by a lot of the galaxy, really only one faction that hates me despite me enslaving anyone who migrates into my empire.

Also necromancers, found the katzen empire from the mod had spawned in it's dead state. The fools nuked their own homeworld, and I reanimated their emperor to serve as a cyborg zombie. Tempted to try and put him on the throne of the empire for the giggles, but it'll take a while since my political factions are mostly led by my legion of scientists so I can't just swap to dictatorship and 'elect' him.

Found the Galactic Core... and it's empty. Aeternum didn't spawn. I should maybe have toggled all the Gigastructure stuff to always spawn rather than let it be random. I assume the Aeternum is just another big empire that's been sitting locked in the core for millennia, but it would have been fun to see them. Still, stumbling onto the core is new to me, and I can experience the joy of actually building giga-structures there from scratch.

All the L-Gates have been claimed by other empires, so I can't pop the L-Cluster, at least not yet. Might go hunt a leviathan or two if my battleships are up to the task, and then make them my undead puppets.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Habitats can be given two extra slots for buildings by an ascension perk, which is generally not worth it unless you need to go heavy on habitats for some reason.

More than that, actually. It unlocks two researches which increases the size of habitats by two per each. It makes Habitats actually worth using if you don't have many planets available, but does eat an Ascension Perk, which are a very limited resource, and there are some 'must have' perks I typically get, so there isn't much leeway.

[GloatingSwine]

Habitats are a great way to get mid game science spam going because of the ability to have science districts.

[Taevyr]

Playing tall's fun with shattered ring and a species specced for quick engineering and tech progress: "rush" mega-structures and droids to colonize a mine world/battery world, send your science ships far and wide so you can do some planning of border chokepoints, and then fill your domain with toys.

Though I tend to have more fun creating empire concepts than playing: I might be better of just creating a traveller setting at this point.

[Grim Portent]

So I have finally gotten around to finishing my Gigastructural Engineerig game. The Unbidden arrived, and were immediately smacked back into their dimension by four stellar-systemcraft. Shortly after the Blokkats arrived, another cat joke, I guess the mod creator likes their cat jokes.

The Blokkats fleets proved weaker than even one of my systemcraft, but their mothership was unbeatable, destroying two of my systemcraft when it entered systems before they could retreat to safety. Even so, I was keeping their spread severely limited, they only consumed five systems after their arrival. I use the past tense because despite them still being alive because, though I have not finished the weapon to turn off their shields yet, I seem to have broken them.

For the past few decades they have been sat in one system, not moving or creating new fleets, and not even consuming the system itself.

Turns out if you shoot a Nicoll-Dyson Beam at a star before the Blokkat-Vester enters the system, but while it is on route so the star doesn't explode until after it arrives, it stops doing anything. I can only assume it's because the system got reset to a neutron star system in the middle of the Vester winding up to delete the system.

So now I'm just sitting around, doing my Blokkat research and winding down the clock to build the superweapon to take them out. Reprogrammed a few Blokkats, but other than the scientists they don't really seem useful to me at the moment. Once again the Nicoll-Dyson Beam has proven a bit... quirky, but this time in a manner I doubt was intended.

EDIT: And the Blokkats are now defeated. Not going to bother waiting out the time to get my victory screen. Gigastructures are definitely fun, but I feel there's a bit too much stuff overall. Nothing outside of the mods enemies was in anyway able to keep up with me once I started really getting going, so the AI civs became nothing more than window dressing. Going to go back to vanilla when I play again, maybe try and pick up some of the 22 remaining achievements I haven't gotten.