Quick Look: Stellaris

Nothing is better than space gerrymandering...

Looks neat, but would need to know a few things about it before I got it. Is expansion the only victory condition or did I misunderstand in the quick look [I think there was just a military type victory of expansion and one where you have to get a % of the galaxy?]. Not sure if that interests me if that is all the ways to win.... If there are not, are there ways to "build tall" as well, or is it not about that?

Goddamnit Austin, now I've to get this. Can't let those space unions think they can walk all over the established galactic order!

Real bummed I missed this live, but I can't wait to check out this archive and hear Austin's impressions. The 9th feels so far away right now. I NEED to start my space-cult-god-empire.

@alavapenguin: It's a paradox game, so the victory conditions are purely cosmetic. You can keep playing after you achieve one and the AI don't even know they exist - they play to achieve their own goals, not the victory conditions.

You don't really play Paradox games to "win".

@alavapenguin: Paradox games tend not to have super well established end goals. Often you're working towards a goal you've set for yourself. With their other games I've found I will get to a point where I'm 'satisfied' with my empire or dynasty. In Crusader Kings 2 I eliminated every other merchant republic in the Mediterranean while playing Venice. What I like about their games is they are less zero sum than other 4x games. There is space for there to be multiple dominant empires operating simultaneously in a way that the Civilization games have never quite mastered.

ugh cant wait for this game. i love CK2

@psyghamn: Oh, so you just play till I guess you get fully wiped out, or you decide to stop then? Hmm well that may work for me in a different way then since I could just do whatever I wanted. Not sure I would have the motivation though haha!

I've been waiting for this game for a long time.

This is going to be the game. All my time, just...just gone.

I've been waiting for this (and to a lesser but still absurd extent, HoI 4) for a very long time.

Since the latest EU4 patches broke all my ironman saves, guess I'll have to get this instead. Well played, Paradox.

I'm prety sure that more victory conditions are unlocked as you go, I don't know if there's a full list out somewhere but I know one of the ways you can win is by forming a large enough federation with other empires, although maybe that counts as a domination victory for your federation as a whole? Not sure. Like others have said, the formal victory conditions aren't too important anyway.

I saw a planet Weight! Is there a Counterweight?

@alavapenguin: Most of Paradox grand strategy games don't really have win conditions. You set your own goals and you can play until you feel like stopping.

But this being a 4X hybrid title, there are actual win conditions. We know of a Science and a "conquer everything" win condition, and we know there are other,s but I don't think we know what they are yet, as you actually encounter them in the game (some have to be researched, others appear as events, etc), and streamers I don't think have gotten that far yet.

Live?

This game really looks like the next step for space strategy games. All the detail, from different types of planetary bombardment, political relations, to civilization setup is really wetting my appetite. So many cool solutions from the really smart way they tackle tech-tree's, AI trading, AI alliances, even just the small feature of the AI actually moving with Austin to attack their enemies.

Followed with the amount of expansions I see on steam for Crusaders 2. This might really become the space game to play for a while.

On the other hand you have games like Masters of Orion which seam to be way more focused on visual polish then proper gameplay. Paradox really understands it's audience, while other studio's just want a nostalgia check.

@austin_walker You sold me on this, pre-ordered.

Paradox takes feedback very seriously; they could never fix that feeling of boredom once you really started snowballing in their other titles (it's called "map painting" or even "finger painting" and it kicks in once you are so strong that turning the map your color is as easy as those terms imply), so for Stellaris they absolutely made sure that all phases of the game would have some form of major challenge to keep you on your toes:

1. The early game revolves around exploration and expansion, dealing with event chains and securing your position in the galaxy.
2. The mid game revolves around the divergence of your population's ethics, leading to civil strife and breakaway factions, alongside the brokering of alliances and federations with other empires and the clashes that come out of that.
3. The late game features major galactic-wide crises that will challenge even the largest empires, from AI rebellion to extra-galactic invaders to fallen, stagnant empires deciding to return to their former glory and start conquering everything around them.

If it works the way they describe, you may finally have a 40 hour campaign that is engaging at every possible stage and moment. It's all very, very exciting.

I might be in love?

@alavapenguin: Like others have said it's more about managing your corner of the universe than winning. There are some really cool potential late game events that impact the state of the universe, won't spoil them but you can probably imagine what could happen.

Wow, good pull on that Event Horizon reference, Alex. I approve.

@flasaltine: LOL. Yus.

Nice Friends at the Table reference, @austin_walker :)

Really looking forward to this. It really is the kind of the game you look forward to the DLC for. I kind of even want the cosmetic DLC just to have even more of a variety of aliens to meet and play as.

Austin didn't mention the end game crisis situations however they haven't been seen at all yet. The known ones are AI revolution if you or an AI player researches the AI tech and give actual intelligence to robots. There is also the possible extra dimensional threat if you research certain techs that could open a rift or extra galactic threat. There are supposedly other as well.

i will buy this game

@jnal: Sorry, maybe your first sentence is confusing me, but Austin did indeed mention that end game crisis situations exist and that all he's seen is the AI revolution. He's also mentioned that certain research have "risks" associated with them that seem to play into this endgame crisis situation.

Apologies if I misinterpreted your comment!

I was turned off from this because CK2 seemed overwhelming and all about managing politics but this seems really fun, or at least the early game does.

IMPORTANT EDIT: Can you blow up planets?

I watched the first half hour of this or so and then went to go buy only to find out it's not out yet. Rats. It would have been nice for the weekend.

@austin_walker This game looks great! As an intermittent dabbler in Crusader Kings 2, I really appreciate the cleaner looking hud elements. Also, I would totally watch a playdate or something of you progressing through your game. This is one of the most entertaining quicklooks I've seen in awhile. :)

The risky tech and large-scale threats sound a lot like what Sword of the Stars did which was a great system. Researching AI only to have it later rebel against you was a really cool thing.

Austin quick looks are the longest

I need this game now.

@mirado: the way Stellaris is set up, it is a lot more of a conscious choice to commit genocide than in, say, Crusader Kings, which makes Stellaris a more of a challenge to keep your empire internally stable.

Most people who play Crusader Kings quickly learn that shitty peasant revolts are a lot easier to control than vassal revolts, which means that replacing all of the foreign or infidel/heathen landholders in your realm is priority number one, and with proper revocation laws/creative provocations, you aren't penalised for it.

In Stellaris, if you aren't a collectivist xenophobe, your citizens won't be totally chill with you killing all the foreigners you just annexed. In addition, neighbours around you also react to your genocide appropriately. These factors make for a less homogenous and therefore more unstable empire you need to wrangle.

I am very excited for Stellaris.

This game looks dangerous to my free time.

This game looks like it has some real Legend of Galactic Heroes shit going on and that makes my soul really happy.

Awwww, give CK2 a chance, it can be as simple as managing 1 tiny piece of land if you want it to be, I think it's the most approachable paradox game by far (Not having played Stellaris)

This looks like it could fill the hole that "Civ 5 but not as good in space" left in my heart, this actually looks ridiculously good.

@misantrope: You can right click on the game in steam, go to "betas" and select the 1.15.1. That'll roll the game back to the previous patch and you should be able to salvage your ironman game.

You absolutely can build up so you can "Sieg Kaiser Reinhard!" to your hearts content. If you set the game up so all empires only use hyperlane FTL, you could even identify choke points and build fortresses to simulate Iserlohn. (Hell, if you go with a Despotic Empire, you the the unique ability to build an oversized fortress, so that'd be perfect.)

Stellaris is also extensively moddable, right down the galactic map itself. A LotGH mod could have the exact star layout as from the show (in as much of detail as is available, which would also allow you to use warp travel as the map could be designed around the range of ships, reducing the need for hyperlanes as artificial chokepoints), custom ship models to match each empire (built in Maya), and even smaller details like custom name lists and portraits (to match characters from the show).

There's a ton of modding crews starting to spin up, including Warhammer 40k, Star Wars, Star Trek, Mass Effect, and Dune, amongst others I've probably missed.

It has the potential to be something magical, assuming the IP owners won't shut them down for fear of making something that outclasses a lot of their official titles!

Russian Batman, Martian Batman, Regular-Ass Batman, Fungoid Batman

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This is one of those games I'm going to have to play sober.

This looks so good. I'm in agony, because I can't afford any game purchases right now.

Wait wait wait, The Lando system?

game of the year

This looks... Kinda awesome. Not normally drawn to these, but this doesn't seem hugely overwhelming.

@billymaysrip: Nope you interpreted correctly I just missed that part entirely. My bad!