Stellaris Game Thread
 

Well since we have a release date now (May 9), and I think this game might be the biggest game of the year, I thought it was deserving of its own thread.

Let's start with a link to the game.

Stellaris® | Paradox Interactive

Quill19 travelled to Sweden in January 2016 and got to play the game. He's done a Lets Play on You Tube.

Let's Try: Stellaris | Gameplay from Paradox's Space Game! [Featuring: Space Cats] - YouTube

How much DLC will there be for this game?

Woo finally a release date. I really can't wait for this game - looks fantastic.

To add to Thomkal's posts - all the developer diaries with all the filthy details on the game are here.

I haven't been this excited for a game in a while. My hopes are probably a little too high, but Paradox seem to be on a tear. Here's hoping this is a good one (and that my computer can handle it).

It's paradox, so I'm ready to pick it up at launch, be massively disappointed and then eagerly wait for the patches/mods that will make it one of the best games I have ever played after 18 months

So where is this game in the spectrum? I get the impression it's like a quasi-real time version of galactic civilizations? Or is it more like civilization or games like red alert?

It's like a quasi-real time Civilization, Its not turn-based, but you can pause the real-time to do things from my understanding. Look at the let's plays and streams to get a better sense of what it is. It starts out as an exploration game, and somewhat "roguelike" in terms of random events and aliens you can encounter. Then its more of an empire-builder like many of Paradox's historical games. You put your scientists to work to develop new technologies like Civ's tech tree, but each scientist is given a choice of what to research. You can play solo or multiplayer (with at least 32 players) and form all sorts of governments and alliances. Alliance members will have to agree to your "war goals" before you can go to war. Check out the dev diaries that Peregrine linked to earlier. They do a good job of breaking down the various parts of the game.

Distant Worlds vs Stellaris

Which will come out on top?

Distant Worlds is horrible.. so Stellaris for the win!

I'd also add Endless Space 2 and Master of Orion 3 to that list.

Distant Worlds would come top on gameplay and depth
Endless Space would come top on pretty graphics
Stellaris will launch with pretty graphics and will add gameplay and depth in 5 x $20 DLCs over the next three years.

Live stream starts on Twitch in about 45 minutes for anyone that can draw themselves away from the basketball :)

Thanks for the heads up.

I've checked out the developer diaries. I've been intimidated by other Paradox games but I'm going to try this one.

The developers have said they haven't "dumbed down" Stellaris, just made it more accessible to the buying public. I think this game has the potential to be their bestseller, so I think it was a smart move to make it more accessible. We shall see.

The live stream is on you tube now in case you missed it:

Stellaris - All hail Blorg, Space Friends #01 - YouTube

Really enjoying that video - cool stuff seeing it in action.

Ditto. This game was barely on my radar before. Now, I can't wait to buy and download it.

really thought this game was going to come out later in the year, so psyched for the early May release date.

Really looking forward to this game after seeing the livestream.

Some more on the end-game crisis that might develop in your universe:

Unlocking the best tech in Stellaris might destroy the universe - PC Gamer

Love it.

Yup.

/engage Nerd Mode

We played a pen and paper RPG a couple years ago, in a quasi Babylon 5 type setting. We were various ambassador type folks of alien races (which we all invented our own). Very intrigue heavy type game. Didn't last too long, but the races people came up with were thoroughly amusing.

And of course, now we're totally going to do a multiplayer Stellaris game with those races. :)

such a nerd. :) Be sure to share the races here. ;)

My guys were a quasi hive-minded isolationist species that specialized in bio-engineering. We were secretly traveling to various primitive worlds and genetically modifying native species to become shock troops. We'd just drop tens of thousands of them on planets owned by minor races to test their effectiveness.

I used to describe them as what you get if you crossed the Vorlons with the Borg.

I think they have something similar in Stellaris. You can "uplift" native species-not sure what you can do with them then.

Clearly they shall be put to good use in cleansing potential colony planets of any undesired biological contamination. :)

live stream on Twitch is two hours long today. Long live the Blorg!

No one wants their game to be compared to MOO3.

Either I'm nuts or this game looks like a ton of fun.

I am so excited for this.

This ^

Gah! My mistake. I meant the reboot.

I think my mind erased MoO3 from my mind due to the trauma of playing it.

Is it too early to declare that no one wants their game to be compared to he MoO reboot?

yes because it is still in early access

The live stream is on You Tube now:

Stellaris - All hail Blorg, Space Friends #02 - YouTube

Just watched it on Twitch - really looking forward to this title. I don't think I will be disappointed.

preorder now available:

Stellaris - Paradox Interactive

scroll down to get lowest price maybe or go to Steam

so show of hands, who did the pre-order already? :)

:shows hand proudly:

Me! I've also done a ridiculous amount of planning already for an interactive dynasty I'm going to run on FOFC starting on release day. I haven't been this excited about a game in many years. I thought I was virtually immune to this kind of pre-release hype. But this really looks to me, esp. based on the Blorg Stream, like it's going to be ridiculously, absurdly jam-packed full of awesome.

Now why does May 9th have to still be more than three weeks away?!

Edit: Stuff I particularly like:

** Wide variety of species creation options
** Huge galaxies up to 1000 stars(and possibly eventually more they say)
** Random encounter, anomalies, etc; RPG-like leader system looks like it will have a lot of replayability
** 'Card' system for technologies looks like it's really well done, I like that more than what I've seen in any other game of this genre

I'll be reading (if I can pull myself away from playing that is) Brian :) yeah I think just the openness to explore and do what you want from the start-seems like whatever you want to do, you can probably do it. Looks like they have everything covered. I like that its not heavy on micromanaging and lots of details like a lot of their games, but still deep enough to get you hooked. Very curious how the random encounters will play a part and the various options you set at game creation will affect things. And from the Blorg stream, it looked like one of the races they encountered, looked like a dragon, so I'm all over that :) will probably play "us" the first time out though.

Pre-purchased! :)

First I was like, "Looks like somebody is just trying to make a 'Distant Worlds' but with a larger art budget." But then I kept following this thread. And then I got the email for pre-ordering. Then I started watching the Martin and cKnoor show and got hooked. Pre-ordered last night.



MizzouRah, could you clarify your statement? I've been playing DW almost non-stop since August/September 2014. I love that game.

I'll be ready with my race come dynasty time. :)

Welcome to the Party! Prepare to be Befriended! Resistance is Impolite :lol:

Too much micro for me.. and I know you can automate but it's just not my cup of tea. I shouldn't have said it's horrible though as many call it the holy grail of 4x games.

Mugani? Hak hak hak.

I would buy that, and I wouldnt even wait til it was on a Steam sale. Full price, no questions asked.

Really grudged paying $39 for something that I have to pay for now, but wont get til May. But I did it anyway.

Purchased over the weekend. Really looking forward to it.

There may be a Paradox sale over at GreenManGaming according to Reddit for 20 or 25% off. Try DEALZON20 for Paradox games or DEALZON25 for Stellaris. Sale thru April 29. If the codes don't work let me know here and I'll delete them.

bigger discounts on their other games too.

GreenmanGaming Stellaris code: Watch25 (it's one of their games to watch, which have this code for 25% off)

I used it myself yesterday

Just purchased it for 25% off

They are just starting a Stellaris demo stream on Twitch - check it out!

Twitch

yeah that's their normal Thursday Stellaris Blorg stream. It will be on YouTube shortly if you can't catch it live. There are rumors (on reddit) of a new Stellaris game starting sometime next week starring reviewers/favorite You Tubers/etc. Don't know any of the details or even if its going to happen at this point.

watch25 does work - now which edition should I get? :)

Get them all! They surely will need the money for an expansion :) I just went for the basic edition.

Thanks for the 25% off code! Nice to get the game ordered at a bit cheaper price, which let me upgrade to the Nova package.

something tells me this game isn't going to be hurting for sales

I, too, went for the Nova upgrade thanks to the 25% off code.

Yeah that's not a real danger I don't think. From what I've seen the Paradox marketing people are pretty excited about the reception so far. In a few days, some of the more prominent YouTube Let's Play people are going to get advanced copies and there'll be a lot more gameplay videos out from that. In other words ...

ALL ABOARD THE HYPE TRAIN!!

Also, not to derail the thread but for anyone who's interested, I've started the thread for my dynasty. Still well over a week to release but I've split up the setup options into reasonable chunks so I don't need to blast out a huge wall of text all at once.

Galactic Dreams(Stellaris, Interactive/Community) - Front Office Football Central

Nothing in the last couple of weeks has changed my opinion that this will be an amazing game. Probably even more so a year or so from now once the modders have really gotten their teeth into it.

Thanks for the discount code, just bought.

I'll probably be overwhelmed and become discouraged in learning how to play this game but figure it was worth a shot.

one week and counting! :)

dev diary this week spotlights the new tool for mod makers: Maya

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...ng-art.924762/

Looks like there will be no Blorg stream this week (Holiday in Sweden), but there will be multiplayer streams on their twitch channel starting tomorrow.

there will be no pre-load. No one seems to know when the game will be available for download on the 9th (though speculation runs rampant on their forums :) )

many YouTubers have the game already, waiting for embargo to lift-which is May 5th apparently.

Please post the good Youtubes when you find them.

I'm anxious for the game but at the same time worried it will be pretty complicated - maybe a high learning curve.

Hopefully that's where good videos on YouTube can help.

There was a mention by somebody from Paradox that they expect it to be at their usual time of 1500 CEST approx., which would be AM in the US(about 9 EST). That'll be nice if it works out that way.

yeah that's what some of the speculation said. I'll be happy if it does turn out to be that early on the 9th.

I'm of two minds about this. They went out of the way when the game was introduced to say that the game would be more acccessible. Then in the Blorg streams, the hosts go through a lot of screens when doing something. (with out explaining most of them) We have yet to see the tutorial as well. I think its more learning what you can do in the game and how to accomplish it that will be the learning curve.

Based on the Blorg stream, it looks more accessible than some of their other titles. It will be more complicated than a other entries in the genre.

Holy shit this galaxy:
(from today's dev diary)

"We have recently worked on support for static galaxies. This will allow users to create a specific galaxy to use for specific scenarios. In this test we have more than 5000 stars, which still renders smoothly. Might have to optimize the game a bit though. "

Un imaging post because it breaks the thread, anyone know how to resize a massively big image?

http://forumcontent.paradoxplaza.com...alaxy_test.jpg

I think the streams have started on Twitch, not sure though. Looks like they are playing from the latest Blorg build.

Part One is up on You Tube.

Stellaris Multiplayer Event - Part 1 - YouTube

One of the YouTubers declared a fallen empire a rival right away. Fallen empire declared war right after and were on their way to destroy their starport when the player surrendered. :)

Lol. Not that I would have planned on doing it anyway, but on the list of stuff NOT to do: antagonize fallen empires who could take 2% of their fleet and annihilate your civilization. Noted.

Stellaris Press Embargo ends tomorrow and I think YouTube and Twitch might explode from all the videos and streams that are going to start. Try to get some sleep :)

Edit: Embargo ends at midnight EST I believe, so don't stay up too late :)

Here's a few Let's Play's that have started on You Tube. I take no responsibility for the quality except for Quill18 of course :) I suspect there will be a let's play from the Yogscast at some point, but nothiing announced yet. I don't hang out on Twitch much, so someone might want to point out good ones there too.

Let's Play: Stellaris -- Sci-Fi Grand Strategy! -- Part 1 - YouTube

Stellaris - Part 1 - A New Empire Awakens - YouTube

Stellaris (Ironman) Let's Play - Imperium of Korplex #1 - YouTube

STELLARIS #01 Make Space Great Again - Let's Play - YouTube

Stellaris Gameplay: Multiplayer Playthrough [Let's Play] Part 1 - YouTube (2 players)

Tea Eaters Alliance - Stellaris Let's Play #1 (Spiral 4 Arms/600 Stars/AI 17/Normal) - YouTube

That should get you started :) Many of these guys have already posted more than one part so make sure you check to see what's available.

Thanks for the links! I need to be careful with these -- I don't want to know half the anomalies before the game is out, and so on.

It has been a long time since I've looked forward to a game as much as I am looking forward to this one.

me too. It's hard not to exaggerate on this, but I think it may be the best game of its type, ever.

It does. The more I watch/see/read the more I agreed.

I'm hoping there a parasite type race kind of like the Ithkul from MMO3 that we don't know about.

May 9th can't get here fast enough.

I'm with all of you. Can't wait to play on the 9th!

Got to Quill's 3rd video and decided to stop watching to avoid spoiling parts of the game. It looks like he encountered something interesting and I don't want to spoil it.

:(

I'm excited, but my brain keeps telling me this.

PyrionFlux (yogscast) doing a livestrean on Twitch right now.

Twitch

This and No Mans Sky. Both must buys for me, even if I do grudge 60 bucks for No Mans Sky.

Ditto. Can't wait for either game!

I'll wait until I get caught up on my backlog of games and maybe catch it later down the road on a price drop.

Game looks like all their games to me, very daunting and so much going on. Probably just me, but I'll need to watch many more videos and what not before even attempting this game. :)

Looks fantastic though and maybe the deepest 4x to date.

I'm not without concerns -- I expect some AI wonkiness at first, I'm ambivalent at best on how federations will work in the late-game, etc. That's the best I can do really in slowing down the hype train(that I'm firmly ensconced on).

Yogscast has started their let's play of Stellaris. First episode on their main Yogscast channel then they move it over to their channel for Civilization like games:

Stellaris - OneShot - YouTube

Stellaris #2 - Creepy Doll Factory - YouTube

Since I'm on vacation today.. I've been watching various videos and the series from Arumba has me starting to really want this game at release. Looks very engrossing and easy to really lose yourself into the game.

:jawdrop:

maybe you won't wait for a price drop then? :)

GMG got it on 25% off again

Reddit seems to hate the arumba videos. They think he plays like he's an idiot

Arumba seems to be a polarizing figure. He has a distinct way of playing, some seem to love it and some hate it. The Let's Play crowd seems to be a matter of taste to me -- for example quill is very good at what he does, but I find his style to be way too fast-paced. Lots of people really like it though.

Damn you! Hahaha... done!

I can't take Quill at all, he's very annoying to me.

Arumba has a way in which he plays that I can relate too, to each his own I guess.

This looks pretty cool.

STELLARIS: 200 years in 5 minutes - YouTube