Based on the video they did last week talking about features they were unhappy with, I’d say the next dlc/patch is almost certainly warfare focused. The warfare rebalance will be the free part, probably some planet-glassing mega weapons and a new ship size or something as paid DLC. Just a somewhat educated guess.
Oh, and I bet FTL gets totally re-done as well, as it’s been mentioned numerous times as hugely problematic to the warfare balancing.
I’m assuming it’s warfare as well (and FTL is very much included in that), simply because it’s the most glaring flaw in the game right now, especially after Utopia (not that Utopia made warfare worse, it’s just that it enhanced a lot of the empire building side of the game).
Paradox games have never had great warfare (outside Hearts of Iron) so I’m not expecting anything deep and tactical or anything, but there needs to be some way to create terrain, force battles, or slow down enemy fleets. Something needs to be done regarding doom stacks as well, which are dealt with very well in their other games already, via stacking penalties and attrition.
A lite supply mechanic might not hurt here, where you fleets get slower or wear down the further they are from friendly space. It doesn’t have to be as in depth as Hearts of Iron, but a fleet operation range attribute might be nice.
I’m definitely interested in seeing what they come up with. Right now, Stellaris is a game I have quite a bit of fun with for a game here and there, but it’s not like EU4 where I can play it over and over and over. A warfare/FTL overhaul would probably be what puts it over the top for me, assuming it’s done well.
It would be much better if it included DLC. Still waiting for Utopia to drop in price before I go back. Seen it for $15, but $10 is still about as much more as I’ll put into it to see where it went…
I am pretty sure babysitters get more than that now. If you’re for hire at 12 an hour, I have a lot of weeds in my yard. I won’t even make you play Stellaris either.
<<<— still really loves the first 1-2 hours of discovery.
(UTOPIA) Added Devouring Swarm civic to the game for Hive Minds
(UTOPIA) It is now possible to find and repair ruined Megastructures in the galaxy
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Features
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Possible to repair ruined Ringworlds with the Mega-Engineering technology
Reworked the empire diplomacy rooms into a set of 16 different rooms themed around AI personalities that can be freely chosen between when designing an empire
Replaced Growth Time modifier effect with Growth Speed and rebalanced related values
Added the ability to drain sector resource stockpiles, giving you 75% of their stockpiled resources at the cost of 100 influence. The cost is reduced to 25 influence during defensive wars
It is now possible to terraform inhabited planets if you have researched the new Ecological Adaptation tech
You can now set taxes for Energy Credits and Minerals on sectors separately
Ironman autosaving is now quarterly instead of monthly
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Balance
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Humans are now Adaptive, Nomadic and Wasteful instead of Quick Learners and Nomadic
The cost of species modification projects is now based on the difference between the traits at the start and end of modification, rather than on the sum of the trait cost
The Prethoryn Scourge crisis will now show up more often and the Unbidden less often
More than doubled the base strength of the Prethoryn Scourge invasion fleets
Doubled the base strength of the Extradimensional fleets, and their initial fleet has been more than quadrupled
The power of crisis fleets now scales to the size of the galaxy
The power of Fallen/Awakened empire fleets now scales somewhat to the size of the galaxy
Certain common anomalies will no longer spawn repeatedly
It is no longer possible to technologically enlighten Fanatic Xenophobe primitives
Choosing the religious awakening end of the Old Gods event chain now just shifts your empire’s ethics towards spiritualist rather than completely replacing them
Increased warp wind-down time
Charismatic and Repugnant now only impact opinion of other empires (+25/-25 respectively) rather than affecting happiness
Pops that are freed from slavery in a Caste System will now have some lingering unhappiness about being made slaves in the first place
Delicious Titans now gives +50% food (down from +100%)
Hive Minds can now choose to eat titanic life
World Shaper ascension perk now also unlocks the Atmospheric Manipulation technology
Master Builders ascension perk now increases megastructure build speed by +100%, but no longer provides a cost reduction
Terraforming-related technologies are now less rare, and even more likely to appear if you have the World Shaper ascension perk
Planetary Survey Corps now gives 1/10th of monthly research (min of 3) instead of 1/3rd
Reduced likelihood of enclaves and space monsters spawning within player borders at game start
Tuned Xeno Outreach agenda weights
All consumer goods are now paid for on the empire level, to make it more clear to the player what costs are incurred by living standards
‘Megastructure Demands Rejected’ modifier set to 7200 days
Withdrawal effects of Chemical Bliss are now less severe and do not last as long
Extradimensionals now turn planets barren after destroying colonies
Sensor techs now increase planet sensor range instead of survey speed
Automated Survey Protocols now provides +50% ship survey speed (up from +15%)
Reduced distance at which Xenophobe Fallen Empires are angered by Frontier Outposts
Corporate Dominion civic no longer requires you to be Egalitarian
Leviathans will no longer occasionally spawn right next to empire starting systems
Spiritualist Fallen Empires are no longer upset by colonizing tomb worlds, as this caused issues with various event chains and was inconsistent when they would not be upset over terraforming them
Upgrading transport ships is now instant and has no cost
Ships caught in FTL magnets no longer warp in right on top of a station, but rather near it
Boosted the damage output, shield hit points and hull points of military stations and frontier outposts substantially
Increased the distance at which military stations have to be built from each other
Boosted the output of Science Nexus to +30/+60/+90
Habitat Solar Processors can no longer be built in a system with a at least half-completed Dyson Sphere
It is now possible for Fanatic Xenophobe Spiritualists to be Fanatic Purifiers
Strength of Legions Civic now also adds -20% army upkeep
Faction Issues have been remixed, with multiple new and re-tuned demands
Increased the effect of promoting an ethic to +100% attraction
Fallen Empires now spawn slightly further apart from other empires
Removed influence cost from Fleet Academy spaceport module
Guardians of Zanaam are now a bit more difficult to defeat
There is now a 30-day cooldown on insults, to prevent spamming of them in multiplayer
Homeworld habitability is now a +30% bonus instead of always being 100%
Colonial Centralization is now a tier 2 tech
No longer possible to trade away systems while at war
Galactic Administration and a number of technologies depending on it are now tier 3 techs
Pre-FTL civilizations can no longer achieve FTL in the first 25 years of the game
Share the Burden edict is no longer possible for synthetic empires
Removed weapons from Mining and Research stations
Adopting domination now gives +20 to acceptance on diplomatic subjugation actions
Properly completing the Enigmatic Fortress event chain now yields a random Enigmatic technology rather than all of them
Hive Minds now get a +25% Pop Growth Speed
Hive Minds now get +10% habitability
Each tradition group adopted now adds +10% to tradition adoption cost
Terraforming technology is now more common
Pops will now only voluntarily migrate away from planets that are heavily crowded
Fanatic Purifiers civic now increases Xenophobe attraction
Mechanist civic now increases materialist attraction
Inward Perfection civic effect on citizen happiness removed
Buildings
Symbol of Unity building and related technology have been removed from the game
Artist Monument no longer affects happiness or unity as a modifier, but instead has its unity ouput increased from 3 to 10
Champion of the People trait effect on happiness reduced from +10% to +5%
Peace Festivals edict effect on happiness replaced with +30% food
Paradise Dome building effect on happiness reduced from +10% to +5%
Dragon Monument building effect on happiness replaced with 15 unity output
Dragon Shrine building effect on happiness replaced with 15 unity output
Stellarite Trophy building effect on happiness replaced with 15 unity output
Cultural Center habitat building effect on happiness reduced from +10% to +5%
Cultural Center habitat building unity output increased from 3 to 4
Loop Institute building effect on happiness reduced from +10% to +5%
Loop Institute building society output increased from 4 to 8
Omega Alignment building physics output increased from 8 to 10
Clinics now produce society research instead of food
Habitats are now a little better at mineral production, and a little worse at energy and science production (though still much better at the latter than the former)
There’s a few big changes there which I imagine will make things quite interesting. Looking forward to jumping back into this when I have some time. The new portraits are a nice free bonus too.
Can someone recommend some good up to date strategy guides for this game? I only recently started playing and I can already see that this is the type of game where 200 hours in you discover some crucial detail that is key to an effective strategy.
Corollaries to the above:
3a. Only if you’ve been strictly sticking to your ADD medication schedule;
3b. Only if you want an RTS with a 4x background
3c. and 3d. LOL WUT
Stellaris is a fine game. Learning the crucial strategies is all part of the normal 4x learning curve, and, to be honest, a lot of the fun in any 4x game. Going in a new 4x with a list of strategies pretty much zaps all the fun out of them and turns them all into soulless min-maxing spreadsheet exercises.
