Paradox date Stellaris 4.0, a "phoenix update" to attract new players and improve performance
Paradox date Stellaris 4.0, a "phoenix update" to attract new players and improve performance
The main thing that keeps me away from Stellaris (and all Paradox games) is the stupid amount of DLC content.
When a game makes me feel like I have to spend some stupid amount to buy all 30 different dlcs just to get the whole game, then I just avoid the game entirely. If I see a steam page and the dlc list is the longest section on the page then I just close it down.
With Paradox, you get a complete and very complex game right from the start.
And then they shovel mountains of DLC on top for those who haven't played anything else in the past 5 years.
If you played it with all DLC as a beginner, you'd be completely overwhelmed.
Ehhh, they can be rough experiences on launch so if that's what you mean by 'right from the start' I disagree a bit. I very much wish I let Stellaris cook a year or so before I grabbed it.
Otherwise I definitely agree. The free updates they release with the DLC are usually excellent, and sometimes I still intentionally disable the DLCs because they add mechanics I'm not interested in interacting with. I own Man the Guns for HoI4, for example, and I almost never actually enable it.
You can generally get the base game for a bit of nothing(Stellaris' historical low is $4), and then grab the DLCs you think will interest you down the line when they're also on sale.
I am somewhat tired of them completely upending how Stellaris plays, though. I feel like every time I get comfortable with the game they overhaul some major system, and I'm learning how to play a new game again.
I get that, and I'm sure there are people who see that list of dlcs and only think about the amount of content positively.
I usually pirate games before buying, and I would have purchased it because I really enjoyed it with all dlcs, but going from all content pirated to only base content purchased (unless I wanted to fork out over £250) felt like a kick in the teeth.
As someone that loves Stellaris and has over 300 hours in it, just get one or two of the DLCs that catch your interest. And that goes for other Paradox games like Cities: Skylines. The base games are amazing in their own right and 75% of the DLC is a waste of money while the other 25% is decent but barely adds anything at all and are overpriced.
Honestly, its better multiplayer. If the host owns the DLC, everyone else can play with that content enabled in the session.
The only downside is the endgame slowdown, and if you get a Min-Maxer in your group it will kill all the fun since the AI will rubberband to catch up with them and then declare war on all the other players as a result.
Also, not all the DLC is necessary. You can pick and choose which elements you want to play with. Definitely get them on sale though.
In case of Stellaris it is more like you would buy Stellaris, Steallaris 2, Stellaris 3, etc. Each big DLC is like another game in the series. And the smaller ones (like species pack) are completely optional. For me this is an example of DLC done right.
It is not like e.g. City Skylines, that most DLCs just give some minor additions and for a meaningful change in the game you would have to buy lots of them.
That's kind of how I feel about EU4. I started w/ whatever the basic bundle was (base game + 2-3 DLC), and it was a ton of fun. Then when it got boring and I wanted more, I bought a couple more DLC when it was on sale. Rinse and repeat and now I have all of the DLC.
That's how DLC should be. With Paradox games, you're not paying for some stupid cosmetics, you are funding continued development to add fun new features to the game. Even if you don't buy the DLC, you still get some nifty features in the free update.
So yeah, I think they do a good job w/ their DLC policy. Though I do wish they'd make older DLC free or incredibly cheap.
Cream.api is your friend 😉
That's why they also offer a monthly subscription these days. Play it with all the DLC without owning any of it for 10 to 5 bucks a month (depending on how many months you subscribe for). Way cheaper if you don't already own all of it and only want to play it for a while.
i tend to just pirate it
As interesting as the game looks, the 315$ price tag for all the DLC made me lose interest.
It's not that I have anything against that sort of games, Total War Warhammer sits at a similar price tag and I got all of the DLCs until CA dropped the ball with TWW3, but it's a real turn off as I'm not interested in doing the homework of finding out which DLCs are needed and which are not.
Buy game, pirate DLC. You can use creamapi to unlock everything.
I'm not really familiar with Stellaris, but with EUIV you really don't need all DLC. Basically the DLCs are fleshing out one faction. So you get some special features and events for the Ottoman Empire, Venice or China that enhances how they play. If you do not want to play as Ottoman Empire, buying the DLC is pointless. If you have several hundreds of hours played, buying a DLC gives you something new and an excuse to start the Venice playthrough. I assume that they are handling Stellaris similar
I firmly believe no one has ever finished a game
I've got 700 hours in the game and I've finished 1 game. I usually get bored near the end when I'm either guaranteed to win or the performance starts chugging, or when I get bored of genociding the galaxy.
Yes
I finish them all the time. Yes, I have ADHD and often hyperfocus to the point of bodily harm when playing strategy games, but I'm sure that has nothing to do with it.
Cuz once you get the end game it starts lagging so bad no one can actually finish.
Its the 50 hr campaigns that's more of an issue. Hard to get everyone together for it.
It is possible to play singleplayer. In fact I would suspect most Stellaris players are playing it as single player.
Its true but Its more fun for me to play with others coop. Playing single player does give you more time to play at your own pace and actually read the events.
I don't play games with anyone, and Stellaris is not a game I have had an issue with.
100% can play by yourself. If gaming is a social event 50 hrs is a bit rough.
Been playing Stellaris with friends since its release. We all still love the game but in the past couple of years it’s been almost impossible to play with a group of people due to network errors and desync. Hopefully this update fixes that.
Version desyncs too, even when we have the exact same (small) modlist. You spend at least 45 mins getting everyone onto the same hash.
They're going to attract new players with 1000-degree weather and a ridiculously named airport?
...oh, the OTHER kind of Phoenix? Fair enough!
