What Are You Playing Right Now, Part 2: Daggerfall

[Gnoman]

I don't understand what they expected anyway. If you present permadeath and deadly enemies in an information-scarce area, of course the players are going to do the very thing that militaries do in real life -- cover each other's advances. It's as natural to the tactical genre as rushing or turtling are to the strategy genre.

The problem with that in the modern Xcom games is the "pack" system, where enemies are grouped into small clusters that aren't active (either in a static patrol or stationary) until you interact with them (at which point they start moving tactically, taking cover, trying to flank, etc). This is a really inflexible system that can be easily gamed - grenades, rifle fire, autocannon bursts and rockets will never draw more attention than you already have (unless you unluckily demolish a bit of cover blocking LOS to another pack), and you always activate the same number of enemies on a per-pack basis. You'll never have a bunch of Mutons charging at the sound of the guns, or have Sectoids taking up ambush positions ahead of you because they know you'll be going that way. There's no downside to delay, and no reason apart from limited use items not to just nova every encounter.


Combined with the inflexible move system, the objectively best tactic is to expose as few squares as possible every turn. This makes for an extremely plodding advance.

[Cazero]

And if the rest of the opposition reacted to gunshots, you would be forced into rushed alpha strikes to kill as many enemies as possible before they can regroup then get back into overwatch crawl to thin down the pods remaining on engagement.

So IMO the pods mechanics don't contribute to that problem. Quite the opposite actualy, since it artificialy splits engagements into chunks that are manageable even when rushing towards a time sensitive objective.

[Resileaf]

Looks like we're reaching the limit of this thread.

I humbly suggest "Part 3: Valve can't count that far"

[Wookieetank]

Looks like we're reaching the limit of this thread.

I humbly suggest "Part 3: Valve can't count that far"

or "Part 3: Let's just leak the script online"

or in light of May the Fourth:
"Part 3: Restoration of the Macguffin" (since Revenge, Return, and Rise are already taken...)

[MCerberus]

Will "The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale" fit? too obscure?

[warty goblin]

How about "Staying inside and gaming is healthy now", or is that too on the nise?

[Lord Raziere]

What are you playing right now Part 3: Doom Crossing
What are you playing right now Part 3: Its Doctor Recommended!
What are you playing right now Part 3: Believe in the Heart of the Controller
What are you playing right now Part 3: There is No Escape
What are you playing right now Part 3: Nurgle Disapproves
What are you playing right now Part 3: Feel don't think, use your reflexes

just throwing a few out there.

[Anonymouswizard]

(which sounds hella boring, by the way, do people not play games to actually have fun these days?)

Eh, I actually enjoyed the Overwatch Creep in X-COM 1, it helped build tension in combat missions, but I'm also the kind of person who's response to a High Risk High Reward unit is 'who authorised this? Give it more defence now' and so arguably don't get as much bang from my Assualt units as I didn't take any of the high-offense line.

Then again, I have little problem with 90 degree only dungeon crawling and character creation that takes half an hour to get through if you only adjust the basics. I've shocked friends by being able to spend four hours on a 4X game just turtling up the tech tree, or to actually play Visual Novels. I might not be a good measure of what most people find 'fun'.

[Cygnia]

Finished "Oxenfree" & enjoyed it...next up on my queue, "Gris".

[Brookshw]

Just finished Ori, Will of the Wisps. Like the first in the series, beautiful game, interesting puzzles, and lots of fun. I highly recommend the series.

That said....

Spoiler: The end of each

Show

Damnit they tug at the heart strings every time with their endings. And stories. I felt so bad for the evil owl thingies in each game. In the first one it had lost it's chicks. In the second, it's just a lost child that's been alone and rejected it's whole life. I feel so bad for each of the "villians" in each game, and in each I want them to get some kind of peace and happiness, but the devs decided against it. The second one especially gets me in the feels, having very young children I completely sympathize with the child just wanting some comfort and I want to give it, but nope, not today it seems. Sigh...

[Gnoman]

And if the rest of the opposition reacted to gunshots, you would be forced into rushed alpha strikes to kill as many enemies as possible before they can regroup then get back into overwatch crawl to thin down the pods remaining on engagement.

So IMO the pods mechanics don't contribute to that problem. Quite the opposite actualy, since it artificialy splits engagements into chunks that are manageable even when rushing towards a time sensitive objective.

Quite apart from the way the game is "balanced" around the pod mechanics instead of just dropping a certain number of enemies in, a podless system would allow you to try to take on enemies individually, or try to funnel them into a killzone, or just cover the obvious chokepoints. The sort of thing you could do in the original games.

[Zevox]

What are you Playing Right Now 3: FES
What are you Playing Right Now 3: Third Strike
Ultimate What are you Playing Right Now 3

(...is anyone even surprised that when I try to think of notable games with a 3 in their title, Persona and fighting games are all that I come up with?)

Anyway, something to actually post about: I finally completed the last route of Fire Emblem: Three Houses that I hadn't done, Silver Snow. And because it's practically impossible to talk about that game without big spoilers, most of the rest of the post will be in a spoiler block.

Spoiler: All of 3 Houses.

Show

So, off the bat, want to ask anyone else who's done Silver Snow: if you don't S-rank Rhea in it, does she die in the end? Feels like that's where that was going, and it was just me S-ranking her (because hey, if I'm doing the Church route anyway, figured I'd go all the way with it) that kept her alive, but maybe I'm wrong. Either way though, I'm curious.

So, to the actual route... it was sadly the only disappointing one of the bunch. Mostly because it's basically Verdant Wind but slightly modified, and the only major modifications were that you don't participate in the Battle of Gronder Field and the final chapter being totally different. Sure, you get some new tidbits of information from that final chapter that weren't in Verdant Wind, and it's kind of neat to see an alternate history where the Battle of Gronder Field happens without Byleth on any side, but compared to all three other routes, it's just not that great. And I feel like Verdant Wind is superior not just because I did it first, but because the extra information about the Agarthians that you get there is more interesting than the extra information about Byleth's origins and the Children of the Goddess that you get in Silver Snow, since the latter could mostly be easily guessed from implications elsewhere. Plus, Claude is just a better lead character than Setheth - wasn't terribly surprised that he kind of took the "Lord" position in Silver Snow after you reject siding with Edelgard, but he's just not as compelling a character as any of the House Leaders. Also, it makes me that much more sad that they left Crimson Flower hanging on the whole Slitherers/Agarthians plotline - they were willing to pursue it in two other routes, not just one, and it actually has by far the most setup in Crimson Flower, so why not include the Shambhala fight in Crimson Flower? Maybe with another alternate final mission afterward, or maybe make the Shambhala fight itself the finale of Crimson Flower and amp up Thales as a final boss the way they amped up Edelgard in Azure Moon.

Speaking of, I find it kind of funny that in two of the four routes, Rhea/The Immaculate One is the final boss. Really figured that would be a Crimson Flower only thing. And honestly, I'm not sure why it isn't - why exactly she went feral there at the end of Silver Snow is really unclear, especially since she went through the same things in Verdant Wind but didn't do the same there. For that matter, you do have to wonder why the Agarthians didn't revive Nemesis in Silver Snow - aside from because then it really would just be a carbon-copy of Verdant Wind, anyway. ...you know, the more I think about it, the more I feel like the speculation I recall some making that Crimson Flower was some afterthought path added late may be backwards. Despite the hicups you can point to with Crimson Flower like the dearth of unique animated cutscenes for part 2, Silver Snow is the one that feels more like an afterthought that was thrown in just so that you wouldn't be locked in to following Edelgard if you chose to lead the Black Eagles. Crimson Flower is a wholly unique route with a lot of deviation from the others, while Silver Snow very clearly isn't. If the game were just Crimson Flower, Azure Moon, and Verdant Wind, that would make sense to me and feel like a complete game that lived up to its promise; while if it were just Silver Snow, Azure Moon, and Verdant Wind, that wouldn't, as two of the three routes would be too similar.

Anyway, despite all of that, I can't really complain. The game may not be perfect, but it is still wonderful and I could gush about how well-written the story and characters are plenty if I let myself. I still enjoyed playing through Silver Snow, and I absolutely intend to play through the game at least one more time: doing a run on Maddening difficulty, which I've never tried, probably taking the Crimson Flower route, since I haven't done that since my first time through and now they've added Jeritza to it.

Oh, speaking of difficulty though, the reason I didn't bump it up to Maddening for my Silver Snow run is because I wanted to focus on using the Church/Knights characters (and Ashen Wolves, after I got that DLC), since I usually left most or all of them to the side, but I was worried about whether they'd be good enough for a Maddening run. So, my thoughts on how those characters fare in battle:

Spoiler: For length

Show

The Best: Catherine, Setheth.
- Catherine is no surprise: she starts out very strong, has good growths, and comes with arguably the most powerful Hero's Relic in the game. She's one of the game's best characters and doesn't even need to change classes.
- Setheth took a few levels to get off the ground and get his speed stat up to par, but once he did, he was fantastic, with just solid stats all around - including enough magic to effectively wield a Bolt Axe. You might be able to make somebody else a more effective Wyvern Lord than him, but not easily, that's for sure.

The Good: Shamir, Manuela, Alois, Yuri, Constance.
- Shamir is again no surprise since I'd used her before. She starts off as good as Catherine, but growths aren't as great, so she peters off a bit towards the endgame, but remains quite viable. I made her an Assassin this time to help with her speed growth, but she got some bad RNG on strength that sort of counter-balanced that and kept from being amazing by the end.
- Manuela surprised the heck out of me. She was one I was worried about, due to her poor strength and magic growths, but with her amazing speed, she actually works out. She has an awkward early period where she lacks offensive power because her only attack spell is Nosferatu, her strength starts poor since she's a mage by default, she's not a great healer because she lacks Physic (the fact that her starting class is Priest and story-wise she runs an infirmary is a total trap, she is never going to be a good healer), and her Reason skill is a weakness so it takes extra time to teach her basic offensive magic, but once you get past that, she becomes solid. The DLC Trickster class is a perfect one to take her into, and if you muscle through that weak Reason skill with a lot of training like I did, she can end up as a great Mortal Savant. She might be the only character I'd actually use that class on, honestly. I also handed her Marianne's Hero's Relic (and the appropriate crest stone, of course), and that was very effective. Also, she learns Bolting, so that's a huge plus.
- Alois is almost one I included with Catherine and Setheth due to how good he turned out for me, but I can't quite. He had a long period of mediocrity before getting there, and I can't completely rule out that I just lucky on some of his stats. Still, it felt like once he got into the War Master class, his effectiveness just skyrocketed, and he was easily one of my best in the end.
- Yuri wound up pretty solid in his default path of Trickster. My fastest character easily, so he always doubled, and his more mediocre strength and magic were made up for by being able to pick whether physical or magical attacks would be more effective on the enemy (kind of like Manuela, except where she was usually better at magic, he's usually better at physical). His Hero's Relic is great as well, getting +1 move, Canto, and Pavise for free as an accessory is probably just broken, honestly.
- Constance has a somewhat weak early game due to her less than stellar speed, but get her into Dark Flier and that will get fixed. She became my best offensive mage by the game's end - especially since she had Bolting, and her crest could randomly conserve castings of her offensive spells. That is a potent combination right there. She might be able to vie for the title of one of the game's best all-around mages if she learned Physic, but sadly, she doesn't. That Bolting + crest combo almost makes me think she could give Lysithea a run for her money for the title of best offensive mage, though. I actually wonder if she might be even better as a Gremory (or Warlock) instead, for the double castings to all black magic spells, since getting four castings of Bolting from the get-go plus any extras her Crest gives her could make her a strong enough artillery unit that she might not even need the speed boost of Dark Flier.

The Mediocre: Hapi, Balthus.
- Hapi is just kind of okay. She was my only Mage with Physic (except when I was using characters outside of my core team in Paralogues and quest fights to keep from over-leveling), which was a godsend, but her speed is just meh, so she never really doubles anyone, she's made of paper almost as bad as Lysithea, and unlike Lysithea she doesn't get Luna to make her more effective against other mages. Her unique ability making her more effective against monsters does help with them, but otherwise, she wasn't anything to write home about. This is in her default class of Valkyrie, though - I'm thinking that maybe making her a Dark Flier would help, since that speed boost might be all she'd need to become a good mage rather than a mediocre one. Though I think Constance would still outshine her thanks to Bolting.
- Balthus was a decent Fortress Knight for me, but weirdly his strength growth tanked for me for a long while, so he was struggling to do good damage even with his Hero's Relic or a Brave Axe by the endgame. Still, looking at the numbers, that's just me getting RNG screwed - in that class he should be gaining strength 60% of the time, and he definitely was not coming anywhere close to that. He could tank with the best of them though - possibly better, as he certainly beat any other Fortress Knight I've ever had (aside from maybe Edelgard, but that was on Normal difficulty, where every run I've done since has been Hard) in terms of Resistance, so facing mages wasn't automatic death for him the way it could be for most Fortress Knights. Still a lot worse than facing physical attacks, but manageable. Nonetheless, I can't really say that he was ever a standout, just a solid tank.


The Bad: Cyril, Hanneman, Flayn.
- Cyril is an odd one. He actually was an extremely effective character for me by the end (almost as strong a Wyvern Lord as Setheth, and much faster), but here's the thing: gods, did that take a lot of work. He spent forever as my worst character by a landslide, to the point where I almost gave up on him despite knowing he's an Aptitude character. And even now, looking at the numbers, I'm convinced I just got lucky. He's no Donnel or even Mozu - that growth bonus from Aptitude just makes his growth rates comparable to a good character like Leonie or Petra, it doesn't make them amazing, so with his very weak start and those growths, he shouldn't end up that strong on average. And even if he did, why baby him through half of the game just to have him be strong for the last few chapters when others can be strong for most or all of the game? Granted, in Silver Snow you can't recruit him until much later than in most of the other routes, since he's one of those who don't join the Black Eagles until you side against Edelgard, so that may have an effect on it - maybe he's more worth it in the Blue Lions or Golden Deer.
- Hanneman is the worst Church of Seiros character, hands down. His speed stat is so terrible that not only does he rarely if ever double anyone, he's usually getting doubled if he gets attacked at all. He does have Thoron and, eventually, Meteor to let him do some attacking from a safe distance, and of course even range 2 spells are safe against melee units, but you really can never leave him open to attacks from non-Mages under any circumstances (and even against Mages it's iffy). Moreover, he lacks Physic, the most important/useful Faith spell, as well as any other notable Faith spell, really. And since he's male he's locked out of Gremory. Him having Meteor and Thoron are the only particular selling points he has - but really, if you want that, Dorothea gets them and is just better in every way.
- Flayn is in a similar situation to Hanneman: mage with poor speed, no Physic. The difference between them is that her speed is not as bad as his, so she's usually not getting doubled at least, and she does get a notable spell that only one other character gets: Fortify, the amazing AoE healing spell that only Mercedes gets otherwise. Also, her resistance stat is far higher than Hanneman's, so she can actually tank against other mages very well, and being female she can become a Gremory. Still, until she learns Fortify she's nothing more than a mediocre mage at best, and if you really want that Mercedes is just so much better at almost everything else that she's the better choice easily.

Not entirely sure what I'll play next. I've been sitting on a copy of Persona 5 Royal since it came out last month, and I definitely want to play that, but after spending the last few months with Tokyo Mirage Sessions and Thee Houses as my single-player games, I feel like I want to play something that isn't an RPG before jumping into another. Thinking of either dusting off a favorite action game like Metal Gear Rising or Bayonetta 2, going for one I haven't played that's been in my backlog for a while in the form of Sekiro, or possibly trying to do X-Com 2 again, since I only got partway through that when I played it a couple of years ago and reading discussion of the new one has made me want to give it another go. Although that's similar enough to Fire Emblem that maybe I shouldn't.

[MCerberus]

Speaking of Atlas, do we have any dates for Switch releases? There's a beat-em-up, a SMT, and a maybe-port of P5.

[Zevox]

Speaking of Atlas, do we have any dates for Switch releases? There's a beat-em-up, a SMT, and a maybe-port of P5.

Nothing on any of that, sadly. Phantom Strikers still hasn't even confirmed that it will be released outside of Japan (though one would presume that it should be given P5's popularity), there's been no update on Shin Megami Tensei 5 almost since it was first announced in 2017, and a Switch port of P5 remains in the realm of speculation only.

[Anteros]

going for one I haven't played that's been in my backlog for a while in the form of Sekiro.

Sekiro is amazing and I doubt you'll regret trying it.

[Rakaydos]

Man, Y'all want to complain about Xcom, go play some Xcom: UFO Defense. "Timers on the geoscape" have always been a thing. It used to be 14 poor schmucks in balistic armor and rifles against half a dozen "pods of 1" aliens that outranged you and had plasma weapons, AND overwatch had it's own stat you could only train in combat, by not using all your actions and crossing your finger overwatch would trigger even IF an alien walked into range.

[factotum]

Um, I have played that game? I've played *all* of them. The only time limit I remember on the Geoscape in the first game is the natural one imposed by the aliens getting tougher, requiring you to develop your squad to keep up. As for only having fourteen guys, that's a hell of a lot better than only having four--losing one or two troops is a lot easier to handle when you have 14 in the mission (and more back at home base) than it is when you have four in the mission and only five in total, as is the case at the start of Chimera Squad!

[Rakaydos]

Um, I have played that game? I've played *all* of them. The only time limit I remember on the Geoscape in the first game is the natural one imposed by the aliens getting tougher, requiring you to develop your squad to keep up. As for only having fourteen guys, that's a hell of a lot better than only having four--losing one or two troops is a lot easier to handle when you have 14 in the mission (and more back at home base) than it is when you have four in the mission and only five in total, as is the case at the start of Chimera Squad!

Then perhaps I'm not understanding what you mean by timers on the geoscape. There's always been countdowns until things are built, new recruits arrive, science gets done, ect.In chimera squad, I pretty much just see more of the same, albet I'm only halfway through.

14 guys you CANT keep alive (without a LOT of save scumming) and have to pay to replace, vs 4 who can handle anything that gets thrown at them, is a heavy tonal shift. I'm calling back to an earlier complaint about alien hordes vs elite badasses not reflecting the overmatched feel they wanted.

[heronbpv]

To all of you talking about xcom - have you at least tried longwar? A major bunch of your complaints will go away with it, in the tactical battles at the very least. Of course, at the expense of making the strategy layer more complex, but maybe that's something you are looking foward to?
Just saying, you don't need to be a impossible iron man veteran to try the mod, and the quality of life and tactical e and strategical changes are well worth it.

[Rodin]

To all of you talking about xcom - have you at least tried longwar? A major bunch of your complaints will go away with it, in the tactical battles at the very least. Of course, at the expense of making the strategy layer more complex, but maybe that's something you are looking foward to?
Just saying, you don't need to be a impossible iron man veteran to try the mod, and the quality of life and tactical e and strategical changes are well worth it.

Long War introduces more complexity but also introduces a host of other problems, including a lot of complexity for complexities sake.

I tried Long War for both XCOM 1 and 2 on two separate occasions. I found it intolerable on all 4 attempts and much preferred the little sub-mods they made that stripped out the new skill trees and presented them separately. Long War struck me as being like Kaizo Mario - it appeals to a certain demographic of players but there's a reason why the main developers don't put that stuff into the primary game.

[Rakaydos]

Long War introduces more complexity but also introduces a host of other problems, including a lot of complexity for complexities sake.

I tried Long War for both XCOM 1 and 2 on two separate occasions. I found it intolerable on all 4 attempts and much preferred the little sub-mods they made that stripped out the new skill trees and presented them separately. Long War struck me as being like Kaizo Mario - it appeals to a certain demographic of players but there's a reason why the main developers don't put that stuff into the primary game.

*cough* Mario2 japan, or Mario: Lost Levels in the US
Also Super meat boy, Celeste, and a host of others.

[Triaxx]

See... none of my complaints were with the tactical battles. I never lost because of my battlefield performance. It was always because of the horrible strategic layer design. You never have enough money, you cannot get sats in the sky fast enough. Then when you get missions you get three, can only take one and the two you don't take immediately start a fast slide towards losing the country because the next set of missions is almost guaranteed to include those two and which ever one you do get rep for means you lose another ton of it for the second one, and after that the country is guaranteed to be lost on the next set of missions.

So no thanks, making the strategic layer worse is a no thanks.

[Cespenar]

I have to admit, even though I was partly in it a moment ago, I have trouble following everyone's positions in the X-COM dialogue currently going on.

Will "The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale" fit? too obscure?

One of the better ones currently suggested out there.

[warty goblin]

See... none of my complaints were with the tactical battles. I never lost because of my battlefield performance. It was always because of the horrible strategic layer design. You never have enough money, you cannot get sats in the sky fast enough. Then when you get missions you get three, can only take one and the two you don't take immediately start a fast slide towards losing the country because the next set of missions is almost guaranteed to include those two and which ever one you do get rep for means you lose another ton of it for the second one, and after that the country is guaranteed to be lost on the next set of missions.

So no thanks, making the strategic layer worse is a no thanks.

I beat* Enemy Within on normal, and I never really found the strategy layer hard, so much as sort of pointless. It's so obvious that you aren't fighting an enemy with a goal but a pseudo random mission generator bolted on to a timed enemy escalator and an unlock tree, there's just no sense of fighting for anywhere or beating anything. Just a sequence of terror missions in some city, somewhere, UFO assaults in nebulous locations, none of which seem to really matter on the strategy map, or impede the aliens in the slightest.

I don't necessarily want the strategy layer to be harder, I just want it actually matter. If I win a multi-stack siege in Age of Wonders 3, it matters because I took that specific city, so the enemy can't have it as anymore. If I win an XCOM mission, I, um, didn't lose i guess. Maybe I can afford a second plasma rifle now. Wooo.


*Technically I quit a few turns into the last mission because there was just no reason to deal with its nonsense, but at that point victory was a formality.

[Rakaydos]

See... none of my complaints were with the tactical battles. I never lost because of my battlefield performance. It was always because of the horrible strategic layer design. You never have enough money, you cannot get sats in the sky fast enough. Then when you get missions you get three, can only take one and the two you don't take immediately start a fast slide towards losing the country because the next set of missions is almost guaranteed to include those two and which ever one you do get rep for means you lose another ton of it for the second one, and after that the country is guaranteed to be lost on the next set of missions.

So no thanks, making the strategic layer worse is a no thanks.

bold is gone in Long war. you will still lose countries, but you also have a lot more countries to lose, and supposedly you can take countries back in the late game.

[tonberrian]

Been playing XCOM 2 myself lately, having a lot of fun despite its flaws. Killed one chosen, the Warlock, but still have the others to take down before i unlock the alien rulers - only one random boss per mission, thanks.

[Anonymouswizard]

Reinstalled Stellaris and began a new Commonwealth of Man game, because I have a (video) date tomorrow and need to relax with empire management.

I got a lucky start, with two neighbouring systems having habitable worlds with 90% suitability, several systems with high Mineral and Energy yields, and multiple potential expansion routes so I'm not stuck if I run up against another Empire in the very early game. And what do you know, I come across a pre-spaceflight species in a nearby system.

Now I've never come across a pre-spaceflight species this early before, and this gave me ideas. Normally I'm too busy vassalising nearby empires to spend much time on such planets, but here I haven't encountered anybody with spaceflight yet, in fact I've barely begun building starbases. So I immediately decided to use this species, some subtle indoctrination to make them not quite so xenophobic later and I could begin uplifting them. Sure I'll lose the system for a bit but I've surrounded their home system with my territory and so they have nowhere to go while I reintegrate them. Because while I could just land armies on the planet and conquer it that way it's so much more satisfying to give them them a taste of interstellar life before I enslave them all and cart them off to the space mines.

I mean, when I actually start meeting other empires I'll have to do this in the efficient way, but until then I can roleplay as a cruel leader intentionally creating hope spots for others...

[Silverraptor]

Reinstalled Stellaris and began a new Commonwealth of Man game, because I have a (video) date tomorrow and need to relax with empire management.

I got a lucky start, with two neighbouring systems having habitable worlds with 90% suitability, several systems with high Mineral and Energy yields, and multiple potential expansion routes so I'm not stuck if I run up against another Empire in the very early game. And what do you know, I come across a pre-spaceflight species in a nearby system.

Now I've never come across a pre-spaceflight species this early before, and this gave me ideas. Normally I'm too busy vassalising nearby empires to spend much time on such planets, but here I haven't encountered anybody with spaceflight yet, in fact I've barely begun building starbases. So I immediately decided to use this species, some subtle indoctrination to make them not quite so xenophobic later and I could begin uplifting them. Sure I'll lose the system for a bit but I've surrounded their home system with my territory and so they have nowhere to go while I reintegrate them. Because while I could just land armies on the planet and conquer it that way it's so much more satisfying to give them them a taste of interstellar life before I enslave them all and cart them off to the space mines.

I mean, when I actually start meeting other empires I'll have to do this in the efficient way, but until then I can roleplay as a cruel leader intentionally creating hope spots for others...

Okay then, Frieza. Not sure how you're going to make them less xenophobic with the indoctrination into the ethics of the Commonwealth of Man.

[Anonymouswizard]

Okay then, Frieza. Not sure how you're going to make them less xenophobic with the indoctrination into the ethics of the Commonwealth of Man.

Fun fact, the CoM is not fanatically xenophobic.... I mean, I wouldn't have bothered indoctrinating them, but they were fanatic xenophobes and that stops you from uplifting...

[factotum]

Reinstalled Stellaris and began a new Commonwealth of Man game, because I have a (video) date tomorrow and need to relax with empire management.

Had a game myself--wanted to try out the start where your species is the vassal of a Fallen Empire. And I think I completely wasted it, because they gave me a fleet of their ships (worth about 5.4k) a year in and I just used that as an opportunity to not build any ships for a while rather than steamrolling my neighbours. Mind you, I guess I wouldn't have had enough influence to really do well there anyway, and while that start gives you the "Scion" casus beli on all other empires, using that just causes the other empire to become a scion of your overlord--you don't gain anything from it personally.