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March 28, 2024, 10:29:03 PM

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Stellaris - Console Edition

Started by Viero_Berlotti, March 20, 2020, 11:20:30 PM

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Viero_Berlotti

Picked this up on PS4 for £20 with all the current dlc (I would've got it on PC but I don't think mine is quite powerful enough). I'm hoping this will see me through to the impending apocalypse.

I've played Crusader Kings 2 and loved it, but felt after 100+ hours I'd only touched the tip of iceberg in terms of depth. I love deliberately complex grand strategy games like this, even if I'm too thick to get the most out of them.

So far I've only had the time to create a species/Empire and play a small part of the tutorial. However in the coming months at home in between helping an e-commerce business survive meltdown and home schooling two kids I'm hoping to dominate the galaxy with an Imperial Despotic reptilian Empire called The Krell.

Any other players on here?

(Here's a link to the original Stellaris PC thread from 2016 https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=54056.0 (warning contains Big Jack McBastard).




Kryton

Yup I play this on PC. Brilliant time-sink that's been well padded out now. Lots of good DLC too.

Currently playing as a rogue machine race dominating all the fleshy beings into slavery or destruction.

The Culture Bunker

I downloaded it on PS4 last week and settled down on Saturday for a session: created my people, started the tutorial and... I dunno, after 10 minutes I didn't feel inclined to continue and that's been it so far. I'll try again on Friday night maybe.

I suspect it's part of a larger malaise I have with gaming at the moment. I had the same problem with Civilisation VI - just couldn't find the motivation.

Kryton

The first phase is boring. Do you have any DLC to spice things up a bit?

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: Kryton on March 24, 2020, 11:49:00 PM
The first phase is boring. Do you have any DLC to spice things up a bit?
What you can get on the PS4 version, which isn't much. Like I said, it may well just be me being bored with games at the moment - about the only one I've put any real time into the last couple of months has been Super Mega Baseball 2.

beanheadmcginty

I want to get into this because I love Civilization and I was very excited by the Star Trek mod. However, I've faced a couple of problems that put me off.
A) I can't work out how to obtain or install the Star Trek mod. I'm playing on PC Game Pass and can't find it on there. It seems to be on Steam but I don't know how to get it from there onto Game Pass.
B) The tutorial is completely baffling. It tells you to do things but gives you very little indication of how to do them and how you know if you have successfully done them. Then the little tutorial window disappears and I don't know what I'm supposed to do next to activate the next stage of the tutorial.

Viero_Berlotti

I started with a race of xenophobic, fanatic-authoritarian, reptilian, slave-drivers. The first phase of building a base for your empire is fairly dull, but there were a few events and discoveries to keep things interesting though.

A few hours in and now I've met three different empires and things are getting a bit more intriguing. They're all powerful than me, one much more powerful, so I think my plans of subjugating the entire galaxy aren't going to be as easy as I envisaged. I'm sandwiched between two other empires that seem to have just made an alliance, and my entire star-fleet has just been wiped out by space-pirates. So I'm going to have to just sit tight and try to build back up and hope I don't get invaded in the meantime.

Kryton

Quote from: beanheadmcginty on March 25, 2020, 02:23:17 PM
I want to get into this because I love Civilization and I was very excited by the Star Trek mod. However, I've faced a couple of problems that put me off.
A) I can't work out how to obtain or install the Star Trek mod. I'm playing on PC Game Pass and can't find it on there. It seems to be on Steam but I don't know how to get it from there onto Game Pass.
B) The tutorial is completely baffling. It tells you to do things but gives you very little indication of how to do them and how you know if you have successfully done them. Then the little tutorial window disappears and I don't know what I'm supposed to do next to activate the next stage of the tutorial.

https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/Beginner%27s_guide

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1715357219

Not sure how up to date they are - but they'll help you with the core issues.

Lemming

The Star Trek mod is a ludicrous amount of fun if you can manage to get it working. Seeing the characters from the series pop up in your leaders/scientists/admirals pool is always fun, as is seeing the uniforms change over the course of the game. By coincidence more than by design, my game ended up actually having Matt Decker die fighting the planet killer. Cool! Matt Decker was also inexplicably a bald elderly black man, I assume due to having a randomly generated potrait.

Really enjoying the new Stellaris Federations expansion. The Galactic UN is a constant source of comedy when half the participants are insane slaver empires who try to squash absolutely any half-decent measure you propose.

Kryton

#9
Feel free to ask me for tips. I know the basics enough to get me through to the endgame crisis with mixed results.


Very brief starting guide -  Set up 2 or 3 science ships, give them leaders. Set them to survey systems (this reveals resources and habitable planets and anomalies and such). Just because you've discovered mineral somewhere doesn't mean you can use them. Send your construction ship.

https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/Exploration


Your construction ship is designed to build start ports / stations and mining / resource / observation stations.

https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/Starbase
https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/Ship#Construction_ship


Colony ships are for settling planets. Try and find 'green' planets with lots of zones and slowly build up - you can kind of customise planets depending on how many relevant zones they have - i.e make them mining planets, or production planets or energy generating planets - But in the early game I try and mix them without specialising. Only later when I can afford to spread out I might make some planets specialise in say mining or mineral production etc.

https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/Colonization

Your race and ethics/government type all vary and provide different bonuses to different resources and ways of playing. So it's tough to say exactly what you should be focusing on.  However the rule of thumb is to initially start small - don't spread out too wide at first. Try and pick systems with lots of resources and generally try and increase your research points / speed - at first focusing on research bonuses and stuff.

https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/Empire
https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/Ethics
https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/Government


You can also dabble in ethics, policies and Traditions - These are what give you your progression flavour so to speak. I.e you can become dominating slavers, or reclusive researchers or war bastards or holy peaceful types. Or corporations etc.

Your research team should preferably be concentrating on areas relevant to them.


Anomalies are usually good things to get a 3rd or 4th science ship focussing on as they introduce good events and bonuses and flavour.

You can develop your basic stations into bigger star ports and fortresses and arm them up or give them defences, you can turn them into trade hubs and such.

Spread out - but not too far initially, your empire sprawl vs admin can start getting costly if you're too scattered.

A lot of other stuff is DLC dependant - but you can join federations and trade leagues and hold council. I highly suggest at least getting the event DLC's like the archeologist stuff.

Oh, I forgot to mention fleets. Destroyer fleets used to be the meta, but I think that changed. Build slowly, unless there's immediate threats. Prepare for the mid game by researching techs and finding anomalies with bonuses. You can upgrade fleets with newer tech at any time.


---

Choke points. I always try and trap other empires away from my more crucial elements by creating choke points on the space highway junctions and building inwards. I'll maybe make two BIG stations and guns etc to hold fort. Then concentrate on colonies inside my patch and gaining resources and tech.

--

Later in game you can change your ethics or splinter off into factions and develop gene modifications to buff your races - You might get access to wormholes and L gates. You might meet traders, fallen empires and bigger, nastier empires and aliens. Or you might want to automate your planetary pops with robots or slaves. Or develop super constructs or planetary defenses or impossible weapons.

Even later - well... Things might get nasty when the wars start consuming things and awakened empires and end game threats becoming tearing through the fabric of reality. Or maybe your robot populations become sentient and rebel against you.

The galactic market and various ethics/policies and planet types / resources can all supplement each other with a bit of trial and error. For example you might have a number of planets with lots of food development, but no consumer goods - play with the market and sell bulk for credits and use your credits to buy bulk stuff you are lacking.

beanheadmcginty

Thanks for this. I'll definitely give it another go.

Kryton

Quote from: beanheadmcginty on March 25, 2020, 10:07:11 PM
Thanks for this. I'll definitely give it another go.

Happy to help. Don't be afraid of asking for general advice.

The Culture Bunker

I'll probably give it another go myself on Saturday - I did pay £20 for it, after all - but I do wonder if it's hampered by the console format. I agree with the above poster that it does kind of throw you in with pretty poor guidance, and moving through the menus using a control pad isn't the easiest way to go about it.

Viero_Berlotti

Quote from: The Culture Bunker on March 26, 2020, 06:42:28 PM
I'll probably give it another go myself on Saturday - I did pay £20 for it, after all - but I do wonder if it's hampered by the console format. I agree with the above poster that it does kind of throw you in with pretty poor guidance, and moving through the menus using a control pad isn't the easiest way to go about it.

I've not played it on PC but I've found the menu navigation on the console edition really well done and very intuitive.

I think it helps if you have maybe played a Paradox Interactive/Clausewitz Engine game before. If not the learning curve will be a bit steeper.

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: Viero_Berlotti on March 26, 2020, 10:02:43 PM
I've not played it on PC but I've found the menu navigation on the console edition really well done and very intuitive.

I think it helps if you have maybe played a Paradox Interactive/Clausewitz Engine game before. If not the learning curve will be a bit steeper.
Yes, perhaps. Though it may be just that I'm too thick to get my head into it.

Kryton

#15
My current play-through involves a species of religious chaps who made the mistake of becoming a vassal of some over-powering, ancient stone bastards. It basically stopped me from expanding and colonising other systems, which put me several years behind everyone else. I then joined the federation/council but had fuck all diplomatic weight due to being a vassal of a larger empire.

However the bastard end-game Prethoryn Scourge suddenly turn up and start TWATTING my Stone bastard masters and cut a lane straight through their empire (killing a few smaller NPC empires) for good measure. I seized the opportunity and declared war on the stone bastards, a war of independence. I went so far to spend most of my resources by hiring mercenaries with cruisers for five years. It worked!

I blasted my way through their systems (cut off from their main fleets). And took it all from them, securing independence and gaining some a critical flightpath/route and lots of short-term resources.

Right now though the Scourge are twatting the old masters into oblivion (who I'm now considering nothing more than a temporary barrier) -soon the Scourge come full force at my empire. My only real hope is abandoning my planets, taking my limited fleets and a load of colony ships and a constructor or two and retreating into previously secured space (hoping against hope that another empire doesn't block off my escape line).

Elsewhere the other major empires are dealing with surprise attacks from the Scourge. One empire has been cut in half and more or less demolished like the rock bastards, whilst the biggest empire on the board is getting flanked by a newly arrived bunch of Scourge motherfuckers.

Fun so far. But I don't think I'll last long.


I'm green, my federation council allies are purple. The Scourge are red.




Scourge = Blue, enemy of scourge = red. None of our fleets can match them. :(
I think I'm fucked?

Viero_Berlotti

Things are starting to get interesting on my first play-through now. The thing with this game is to stick with it. It can seem like there's not much to it early on in your first play-through, but when you meet a few other empires and alliances/rivalries are formed and empires start expanding, then the deep strategy aspects of the game start to come through. The way the hyper-lanes link up the solar systems is a really good mechanic.

Mobius

I bought this game last night off the back of this thread and I'm loving it.

I've got some massive pirate fleet nearby but they aren't moving. How do I fuck them up because I've lost 3 Corvette ships already

Kryton

Quote from: Mobius on March 29, 2020, 02:00:58 AM
I bought this game last night off the back of this thread and I'm loving it.

I've got some massive pirate fleet nearby but they aren't moving. How do I fuck them up because I've lost 3 Corvette ships already

Right now, ignore them. They'll probably stay put - just consider that a lost system until you can build up your fleets. But you can also use some tactics and plan your expansion around them, possibly using them as a buffer against any hostile neighbours.

Lemming

Not sure which DLC they're from, but the raider factions are genuinely dumb as shit. Hire all their best fleets, send the fleets straight back into their own territory to attack (while your own ships hang back offering minimal support), wipe out the raiders and then disband the raider mercenaries (or send them on a suicide mission). Move into their now-vacant territory yourself. Nice.

Current playthrough is going well but these psychotic slug people have become the leaders of the Galactic Council for some insane reason and they're pushing all kinds of idiotic new laws through. Now I'm in breach of intergalactic law in about three different ways and everyone thinks I'm a dick.

Kryton

Quote from: Lemming on March 29, 2020, 03:14:32 AM
Not sure which DLC they're from, but the raider factions are genuinely dumb as shit. Hire all their best fleets, send the fleets straight back into their own territory to attack (while your own ships hang back offering minimal support), wipe out the raiders and then disband the raider mercenaries (or send them on a suicide mission). Move into their now-vacant territory yourself. Nice.

Current playthrough is going well but these psychotic slug people have become the leaders of the Galactic Council for some insane reason and they're pushing all kinds of idiotic new laws through. Now I'm in breach of intergalactic law in about three different ways and everyone thinks I'm a dick.

Sounds to me it's pirates rather than NPC raiders. I don't think Pirates communicate with you, they're just an on map antagonist rather than a faction.. The raiders are the one's who you can hire mercs from and occasionally tributes.

Kryton

On my current playthrough the raiders assisted me with mercs when I used them to bolster my numbers when rebelling for independence against the rock bastards.
Then the scourge eventually killed them all.

Mobius

I wrecked the big 13k pirate ship and it fucking fled before I could destroy it. Fucker.

How the hell do you get more influence? My scientists keep dying of old age, probably shouldn't have played human

Kryton

Quote from: Mobius on March 29, 2020, 09:34:35 AM
I wrecked the big 13k pirate ship and it fucking fled before I could destroy it. Fucker.

How the hell do you get more influence? My scientists keep dying of old age, probably shouldn't have played human

Declare rivalries with other empires (preferably ones that can't reach you) -for a small bonus per month.
I think you can get early game influence by 'investigating' aliens - (they'll appear in your situation log if you stumble across them in the map. It'll take a few months off your research, but worth it).
Limit your diplomacy with other empires (as it can cost influence to strike deals).
Traits, ethics, some tech (Social -I think) - Certain government types can gain influences by completing mandates for the government (democracy).

Erm... some anomalies give influence I think as a reward.

I think you might be able to swap relics for influence (not sure if that's DLC though)?
Oh and certain buildings (such as expanding your capital building).


https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/Economy#Influence

Viero_Berlotti

Quote from: Mobius on March 29, 2020, 09:34:35 AM
How the hell do you get more influence? My scientists keep dying of old age, probably shouldn't have played human

I'm not sure which version you are playing, but on the console version Frontier Outposts take up 1 influence to maintain (I read somewhere that on PC, which is running a later version of the game, this isn't the case).

You may find that some of the Frontier Outposts you established at the beginning of your game are now centrally located and far from the borders of your Empire. So you can close these Frontier Outposts down to free up the used influence. However make sure you save the game before you dismantle any of the Frontier Outposts just to make sure you don't lose any star systems if your borders are drastically reduced.

Mobius

Cheers guys. It does seem reading online that influence is a constant struggle.

I'm on the PS4 so no idea what patch this is or wherever.

Are sectors mandatory? I get to a certain point in the game and get told I'm losing resources due to not having sectors then I set them up, then they cost like 300 influence to dismantle?!

MojoJojo

Just read this thread thinking gosh, this looks a lot like Galactic Civilisations. They I checked out who made it.

Anyone know why they dropped the GalCiv name? Maybe Firaxis had a word.