Stellaris - Paradox new sci-fi grand strategy game

[GrafvonMoltke]

So I checked the last two Stellaris DLCs and judging by players reviews I should avoid it. They cost $20 each and add only cloaking(stealth) tech and leader upgrades. Paradox made a retarded hard 10 leader cap which doesn't scale at all with a huge 1000-star galaxy and I play exclusively huge galaxies. Not going to throw $40 for the DLCs of the 7-year-old game.

This one is difficult. I wish I could just sorta kinda maybe recommend it. The new leaders are fun! The new stories are fun! But if you play a 1000 star galaxy, you will find half your empire is empty by the mid to late game. They have a new hard cap on leaders, if you go over 10 (with many traditions and civics taken to even get that far), then you start losing exp. By 12, you may as well kiss any usefulness of leaders good by.

What does this look like? A handful on the council. One or two admirals for your 5 fleets. Maybe three governors for your 20 planets. Three scientists... and a general. Billions under your rule and care, but a dozen people are all that can lead it. From a roleplaying perspective, it sucks. And there are so many empty portraits everywhere, it's like the game is constantly taunting me and reminding me of the people that used to fill those slots before this DLC.

On the forums, devs have admitted they do not balance for larger galaxy sizes and so the cap will always feel bad and not scale with our empires there. So if you like to play a sandbox in a larger galaxy, going to have to give this a Not Recommend. However, you may enjoy it if you play on smaller galaxies with faster end times as you won't hit the cap nearly as hard or fast with what you need to run your empire.

Why did you rate my post as FAKE NEWS when you came to the same conclusion as I did in this post

 

[kris]

So I checked the last two Stellaris DLCs and judging by players reviews I should avoid it. They cost $20 each and add only cloaking(stealth) tech and leader upgrades. Paradox made a retarded hard 10 leader cap which doesn't scale at all with a huge 1000-star galaxy and I play exclusively huge galaxies. Not going to throw $40 for the DLCs of the 7-year-old game.

This one is difficult. I wish I could just sorta kinda maybe recommend it. The new leaders are fun! The new stories are fun! But if you play a 1000 star galaxy, you will find half your empire is empty by the mid to late game. They have a new hard cap on leaders, if you go over 10 (with many traditions and civics taken to even get that far), then you start losing exp. By 12, you may as well kiss any usefulness of leaders good by.

What does this look like? A handful on the council. One or two admirals for your 5 fleets. Maybe three governors for your 20 planets. Three scientists... and a general. Billions under your rule and care, but a dozen people are all that can lead it. From a roleplaying perspective, it sucks. And there are so many empty portraits everywhere, it's like the game is constantly taunting me and reminding me of the people that used to fill those slots before this DLC.

On the forums, devs have admitted they do not balance for larger galaxy sizes and so the cap will always feel bad and not scale with our empires there. So if you like to play a sandbox in a larger galaxy, going to have to give this a Not Recommend. However, you may enjoy it if you play on smaller galaxies with faster end times as you won't hit the cap nearly as hard or fast with what you need to run your empire.

Why did you rate my post as FAKE NEWS when you came to the same conclusion as I did in this post

He wanna take the credit.

 

[The Brazilian Slaughter]

Haven't played Stellaris since 3.7.4 I believe.

Did some poking with it, some thoughts so far:
- Game performance has clearly improved, which is good.
- I notice a lot less Science ships being used early on by me. Like, by around 2010 I still only had 2, because I didn't have more leader cap.
- Having more control over how my leaders level up is quite neat.
- No more scientist rig-marole while researching shit, kind of an improvement.
- Having some tabs now inside other tabs is annoying, like edicts now being inside government.

Going back into it, had to make sure it was working because I decided to change the paradox interactive folder's location, due to my poor little System Drive having the size of a fucking matchbox. Gotta figure how to do that with CKII somehow. Got my mods ready to go.

 

[The Brazilian Slaughter]

Talking about changing the location of the paradox interactive Stellaris folder:

Here's a link:

https://af.gog.com/forum/stellaris/...aris" to something else for now?as=1649904300.

Hi,

Just spent a couple of hours figuring this out so thought I would share it and save someone the time. Apologies if this is a duplicate but I couldn't find it.

It all started from this thread:

https://af.gog.com/forum/stellaris/...nage_workshop_mods_successfully?as=1649904300

Which explains how to get Stellaris mods from Steam to GOG. For me the Paradox mod installer just didn't seem to work and most of the mods on there were out of date in comparison to Steam.

After installing a couple of mods I discovered that my Documents folder was exploding since this is where Paradox puts all the mods. Since this folder is synched via OneDrive this was a bit of a problem.

So, here is how to fix it:

1. Create a new folder (outside OneDrive) where you want all your Stellaris mods and save files and setting etc to go, e.g. "D:/ParadoxInteractive/Stellaris".

2. Copy the contents of "Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris" into that new folder

3. Rename "Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris" to something else for now.

4. Locate (or creaet the file "userdir.txt" in the Stellaris installation folder (beside "dowser.exe") and put the path the the new folder e.g. "D:/ParadoxInteractive/Stellaris" (without quotes) into it.

6. Locate a file called "launcher-settings.json" beside "dowser.exe" and edit that file (take a copy of it if you are worried).

7. Change the line containing "gameDataPath" to point to the new folder, e.g. "D:/ParadoxInteractive/Stellaris" (this time with the quotes).

8. Start up the Launcher and a game and make sure everything works.

9. Delete the old (renamed) Document/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris folder.

10. If you use Irony Mod Manager (from the above thread) remember to change the path to this folder in there too.

If anything goes wrong simply change things back (remove the userdir.txt file and undo

I believe this trick works with other Paradox games but as I am not playing those at the moment I cannot verify it.

I hope this helps someone.

Update: I am not sure yet but this process may break the GOG Galaxy Cloud Sync feature. It could be an unrelated glitch.

Post edited February 10, 2022 by Dingbat Doodlehead

According to a post in the thread, it might disturb cloud saves and multiplayer, because they assume the saves are in the default location.

 

[jebsmoker]

the new Star Trek game is basically just a Stellaris total conversion that you pay money for. think i'm kidding? look:

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

dood.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=688086068

 

[Space Satan]

That takes us to the main question:
Who is more guilty - people who buy this recycled shit and promote developement of such "products" or developers, who create this recycled shit because people will buy it?

 

[Average Manatee]

Talking about changing the location of the paradox interactive Stellaris folder:

Here's a link:

https://af.gog.com/forum/stellaris/moving_the_documentsparadox_interactive_folder#:~:text=1. Create a new folder (outside OneDrive) where,Rename "Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris" to something else for now?as=1649904300.

According to a post in the thread, it might disturb cloud saves and multiplayer, because they assume the saves are in the default location.

There's a way better way to do this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolic_link

Just put this in a .bat file in your my documents folder, move your Paradox Interactive folder to another drive, then set your path in the 2nd argument to lead to that (currently goes to d:\paradox Interactive). Then run the bat file as an admin.

mklink /D %~dp0"Paradox Interactive" "D:\Paradox Interactive"

This will create a link through the windows file system so for all intents and purposes anything looking for the files will go to the other drive. Fucking around with paradox launcher shit like your post does could be bad if something gets reset and it can't find the files. Done my way nothing can go wrong and its easy to just delete the link and then move the files back if you want.

 

[Trithne]

the new Star Trek game is basically just a Stellaris total conversion that you pay money for. think i'm kidding? look:

I think the part that pushed me over the edge was the ethics icons. At that point I was thinking you had to have just posted a mod.

Also while it'd be out of place in a TOS themed game, if they're going to have the audacity to charge for this they could at least make an LCARS UI.

Edit: Apparently it's set in the TNG era, so not having an LCARS UI is unforgivable.

 

[The Brazilian Slaughter]

Talking about changing the location of the paradox interactive Stellaris folder:

Here's a link:

https://af.gog.com/forum/stellaris/moving_the_documentsparadox_interactive_folder#:~:text=1. Create a new folder (outside OneDrive) where,Rename "Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris" to something else for now?as=1649904300.

According to a post in the thread, it might disturb cloud saves and multiplayer, because they assume the saves are in the default location.

There's a way better way to do this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolic_link

Just put this in a .bat file in your my documents folder, move your Paradox Interactive folder to another drive, then set your path in the 2nd argument to lead to that (currently goes to d:\paradox Interactive). Then run the bat file as an admin.

mklink /D %~dp0"Paradox Interactive" "D:\Paradox Interactive"

This will create a link through the windows file system so for all intents and purposes anything looking for the files will go to the other drive. Fucking around with paradox launcher shit like your post does could be bad if something gets reset and it can't find the files. Done my way nothing can go wrong and its easy to just delete the link and then move the files back if you want.

Fascinating.

I think I will leave Stellaris as it is, but test this out on CKII. I have 5gbs worth of CKII-related files on my poor little systemdrive, which is much better served being elsewhere.

 

[Average Manatee]

I was doing it for the entire paradox folder involving all paradox games, if you want a specific one you'll need to edit it appropriately.

 

[Axioms]

Man Victoria 3 fans need to hope the new Star Strek: Stellaris game bombs hard. With the moderate success of AoW4 and this game potentially taking off, the company is gonna drop Vicky3 like a hot tomato. Right into the shitter. Also LOL at PDox cannabalizing some of their most popular mods. All their work wasted. That's what they get for enjoying Stellaris enough to heavily mod it. Scum. Wonder if this is a sign of them planning to start cannabalizing all the most popular mods.

CK3: AGOT licensed game next year eh?

 

[GrafvonMoltke]

Wanted to play but the absolute disarray of modding at the moment is severely discouraging

 

[Fedora Master]

the new Star Trek game is basically just a Stellaris total conversion that you pay money for. think i'm kidding? look:

You're shitting us, right? I'm being rused.

Oh my Lord, this is a new low for PDX.

 

[jebsmoker]

i mean, if it's high quality.... sure, i guess, and you can run Stellaris on an abacus, but i still can't shake off the 'this is a paid mod' feeling

 

[None]

This could actually be some serious incoming incline.

Let me explain.

I don't mean the game itself is incline, but the fact that another studio is using a Paradox engine/game for their own title. Something in this vein was attempted before but had few successes (Darkest Hour) and many failures (East vs West, Magna Mundi). I don't care much for Stellaris, but if another studio managed to get their hands on CK3 or HOI4 I'd be quite intrigued. If this is the sign of a coming trend and we get at least one good title that surpasses the original then I'd be more than happy.

 

[jebsmoker]

i remember the drama surrounding magna mundi and it's still the funniest thing ever to me; the vomit-inducing graphical elements from it are something you never forget

 

[Alienman]

You're shitting us, right? I'm being rused.

Oh my Lord, this is a new low for PDX.

I think it's a perfectly fine idea - to use your engine for something else, instead of just making a low-effort DLC. However, it must be much more than a mod, and considering it's Paradox, it's going to be DLC hell probably.

 

[motherfucker]

the new Star Trek game is basically just a Stellaris total conversion that you pay money for. think i'm kidding? look:

I was convinced you were just memeing with a stellaris screenshot until I checked the website. Nigga what the fuck.

 

[thesecret1]

the new Star Trek game is basically just a Stellaris total conversion that you pay money for. think i'm kidding? look:

You're shitting us, right? I'm being rused.

Oh my Lord, this is a new low for PDX.

Holy shit. Bet it's gonna be worse than the mod anyway.

 

[Axioms]

the new Star Trek game is basically just a Stellaris total conversion that you pay money for. think i'm kidding? look:

You're shitting us, right? I'm being rused.

Oh my Lord, this is a new low for PDX.

Holy shit. Bet it's gonna be worse than the mod anyway.

I think it has an advantage because they have source access and Stellaris I think is not on the new generation engine. Actually I wonder if the new game is on the CK3 engine version or not. But of course the tech can only go so far because design choices for mechanics could be equally shit on either engine.

 

[The Brazilian Slaughter]

This could actually be some serious incoming incline.

Let me explain.

I don't mean the game itself is incline, but the fact that another studio is using a Paradox engine/game for their own title. Something in this vein was attempted before but had few successes (Darkest Hour) and many failures (East vs West, Magna Mundi). I don't care much for Stellaris, but if another studio managed to get their hands on CK3 or HOI4 I'd be quite intrigued. If this is the sign of a coming trend and we get at least one good title that surpasses the original then I'd be more than happy.

Its kinda in-house, but gimme an Age of Wonders GSG using CKIII as a base after several mechanical improvements.
Imagine playing the time period of the OG Age of Wonders on a huge CKIII-esque map.

First appearance of humans is by 962 LIR, start of AOW main campaign is 1216 LIR. AOWSM ended in 382 QJR. Hmmm, a 636 year timeline. Not dissimlar from the span of the CKII campaign. Let's see if we can fit AOW3 in. Hmm... YC 1 = 395 QJR, so +13. AOWIII starts in 225 YC, so a 928 year timeline. Depending on where AOW4 is in the timeline, might be able to fit it in a 1000 year timeline. Bit long for a Grand Campaign, but alright, it works.

 

[Axioms]

This could actually be some serious incoming incline.

Let me explain.

I don't mean the game itself is incline, but the fact that another studio is using a Paradox engine/game for their own title. Something in this vein was attempted before but had few successes (Darkest Hour) and many failures (East vs West, Magna Mundi). I don't care much for Stellaris, but if another studio managed to get their hands on CK3 or HOI4 I'd be quite intrigued. If this is the sign of a coming trend and we get at least one good title that surpasses the original then I'd be more than happy.

Its kinda in-house, but gimme an Age of Wonders GSG using CKIII as a base after several mechanical improvements.
Imagine playing the time period of the OG Age of Wonders on a huge CKIII-esque map.

First appearance of humans is by 962 LIR, start of AOW main campaign is 1216 LIR. AOWSM ended in 382 QJR. Hmmm, a 636 year timeline. Not dissimlar from the span of the CKII campaign. Let's see if we can fit AOW3 in. Hmm... YC 1 = 395 QJR, so +13. AOWIII starts in 225 YC, so a 928 year timeline. Depending on where AOW4 is in the timeline, might be able to fit it in a 1000 year timeline. Bit long for a Grand Campaign, but alright, it works.

God I hope not. AoW4 which is the one they'd use as the base with CK3 is extremely Paradoxic and lame. Boring stupid balanced modifiers instead of wild and wooly unbalanced magical of the kind that very early fantasy 4X games and Dominions 3 have.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

lso LOL at PDox cannabalizing some of their most popular mods.

that's what they've been doing for pretty much all stellaris' dlcs.

 

[GrafvonMoltke]

lso LOL at PDox cannabalizing some of their most popular mods.

that's what they've been doing for pretty much all stellaris' dlcs.

*all their games and their dlcs