Stellaris - Paradox Interactive

[dirtybeatfreak]

You mean you haven't built anything at a spaceport yet?

Private Colony Ships cost 100M less to construct and are made 100 days faster, but you don't get to pick the colonist. Generally this won't matter, especially if you're racially and ethically unified or you only build from your homeworld, but if you specifically want to create a colony for a certain type of people - giving integrated vassal xenos their own world, for example, or establishing a slave mine planet - it's a drawback.

No I have level 6 spaceports filled with other stuff, and the ability to build the private colony ships. It just wasn't clear what they did differently to normal colony ships (or I missed it at least) so never used them.

 

[Smokey Deza]

My sector governors are spamming spaceports everywhere, there's even 2 in one system.

This can actually be a good thing. I have them alien dimension type aliens bouncing between two planets in my sector that keep spamming space ports

Gave me enough time to upgrade my fleet and wipe them out. Well actually no, they annihilated my entire fleet (haven't landed any decent weapons yet) and proceed to wipe out half my empire.

Was really cool to be honest. They're stomping over everyone now.

Do spaceports cost money? Think I read somewhere that slapping solar panels on pays for their maintenence?

 

[Tefal]

New dev diary, things are looking good for this game!

Spoiler

Hi everyone!

Well folks, here we are again, one week later… The development team has mostly weathered the release jitters and nerves are starting to calm down. The ship we worked so hard on for the last three years has been successfully launched and is currently on its maiden voyage. The crew seems mostly happy but some of the inspectors have raised concerns about mid-ship structural issues. As chief architect, I am not entirely surprised, but the reports will allow us to commence upgrades as soon as HMS Stellaris returns from its round-trip to Alpha Centauri. Alright, enough with the metaphor, let’s talk about our future plans for Stellaris!

First off, for those of you who are unfamiliar with our post-release policies, we will release a lot of expansions over the coming years. Each expansion will be accompanied by a major update (for Stellaris, these free updates will be named after famous science fiction authors) containing a whole bunch of completely free upgrades and improvements to the game in addition to regular bug fixes. As long as enough players keep buying paid content for the game, we promise to keep improving the game for everyone, almost like an MMO.

Now, before we begin the expansion cycle in earnest, we will spend the rest of May and June only focusing on bug fixes and free upgrades to the game. We carefully listen to all your feedback, which has already made us alter our priorities a bit. As a veteran designer of our complex historical games, I was anticipating a fair amount of criticism regarding the mid-game in Stellaris compared to that of our historical games, but I was more concerned with the depth of the economy than the relative lack of diplomatic options, for example. I also find much of the feedback on the Sector system interesting; the GUI and AI concerns will receive the highest priority. One area I was not at all surprised to get flak for is the lack of mid-game scripted content, however. We simply took too long getting all the early and late game stuff in, and neglected a whole category of events called “colony events”, which were supposed to be the bread and butter of the mid-game for the Science Ships.

We’ve been digesting and discussing your feedback and how to best go about improving the mid-game to make it more dynamic, both in the short and long run. Let’s start with our short term plans. When the game was released, we had already proceeded to fix a lot of issues. Together with some other pressing issues that have been reported, the plan is to release the 1.1 update - “Clarke” - near the end of May. We will try to cram as much as we can into this update, but the more fundamental stuff will have to wait until the next update (“Asimov”), which is scheduled for the end of June. The “Clarke” patch will mainly be a bug fix and GUI improvement update. Here are some of the highlights:

"CLARKE" HIGHLIGHTS
Fixes to the Ethic Divergence and Convergence issues. Currently, Pops tend to get more and more neutral (they lose Ethics, but rarely gain new ones.)
The End of Combat Summary. This screen looks bad and also doesn’t tell you what you need to know in order to revise your ship designs, etc.
Sector Management GUI: There are many issues with this, and we will try to get most of them fixed.
Diplomacy GUI issues. This includes the Diplomatic Pop-Ups when other empires contact you, but also more and better looking Notifications, and more informative tooltips on wars, etc.
AI improvements: Notably the Sector AI, but also plenty of other things. This kind of work is never "finished"...
Myriads of bug fixes and smaller GUI improvements.
Late game crises bugs. There were some nasty bugs in there, blocking certain subplots and various surprising developments.
EDIT: Remaining Performance Issues. We know about them; they might even be hotfixed before Clarke.
EDIT: Corvettes are too good.

Stellaris_new_Diplo_Notification_Mockup.png
New Diplomatic Notification. This is a mock-up, not an actual screenshot!

Stellaris_End_of_Combat_Mockup.png
New Fleet Combat Summary. This is a mock-up, not an actual screenshot!


After that, we’re moving on to the “Asimov” update, and this is when we can start making some major gameplay improvements to especially the mid-game. As you might have guessed, we plan to add some new diplomatic actions and treaties. Another thing that struck me during our discussions is that the normal lack of access to the space of other empires makes the game feel more constricted than intended. It limits your options since you can’t really interact much with the galaxy beyond the borders of your empire, and you only tend to concern yourself with your direct neighbors. This is bad for your Science Ships too, of course, since they might not be able to finish some of the grander “quests”. Compare the situation with Europa Universalis, where you usually have access to the oceans and can thus reach most of the world, or Crusader Kings, where you can even move through neutral territory with your armies. We also intend to add as much mid-game scripted content as we can. Thus, this is currently the plan for “Asimov”, but it’s not set in stone yet, so please bear with us if something gets pushed or altered:

"ASIMOV" HIGHLIGHTS (NOT SET IN STONE!)
Border Access Revision: Borders are now open to your ships by default, although empires can choose to Close their borders for another empire (lowering your relations, of course.)
Tributaries: New diplomatic status and corresponding war goals.
Joint Declarations of War: You can ask other empires to join you for a temporary alliance in a war against a specific target.
Defensive Pacts.
Harder to form and maintain proper Alliances.
More war goals: Humiliate, Open Borders, Make Tributary, etc.
Emancipation Faction. We had to cut this one at the last minute. Needs redesign.
Diplomatic Map Mode. Much requested!
Diplomatic Incidents: This is a whole class of new scripted events that causes more interaction with the other empires.
Past “Asimov”, I can’t give you any kind of specifics yet, but I am currently leaning towards honing in on the following general areas for the “Heinlein” update (these are not promises!):

CURRENT "HEINLEIN" INTENTIONS
Sector and Faction Politics: We are working on a design for this. I always wanted to make Factions more closely tied to Sectors, for example...
Federation and Alliance Politics: As a player, you need more ways of interacting with the other members, push your will through, and get elected, etc.
Giving Directions to Allies and Subject States.
Strategic Resource Overhaul: You should need these and search for them far and wide. They should be extremely important.
Battleship Class Weapons. Some Battleship front sections will be repurposed for an XL size weapon slot. There are currently four ship sizes but only three sizes to weapons, creating an imbalance. Also, Battleships should have fewer small weapon slots and have to rely on screens of smaller ships.
Fleet Combat Mechanics: Formations and/or more complex ship behavior is needed.
Mid-game scripted content: Guarded “treasures”, mid-game crises, colony events, etc.
Living Solar Systems: Little civilian ships moving around, etc.
Again, remember that we need to be somewhat flexible when things don't work out or when something else takes priority, so please take these later plans with a large grain of salt. As always, we also listen keenly to your feedback, so keep it coming!

Now, I am sure you are full of questions about the details, but hold your horses; it will all be explained in the coming dev diaries!

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...llaris-dev-diary-33-the-maiden-voyage.932668/

well that adresses most of my concerns ^_^

 

[TheBrooder]

well that adresses most of my concerns ^_^

The Clarke update will be with us next week I believe!

 

[Panos]

The Clarke update will be with us next week I believe!

Beta version out before the end of the week

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...m_campaign=stellaris_clarke_devdiary_20160524


Some improvements regarding governors

Another major target area for Clarke was to address complaints regarding the AI, particular in sectors to sectors and warfare. A few highlights:

Greatly improved sector AI handling of pops, buildings, spaceports and mining stations.
Fixes for AI in end game crises.
Improvements and fixes to AI handling of its fleets.
Less restrictions on what the AI will trade and with who, especially in regards to border access.
In multiplayer, empires that are player-controlled will have a 'limited' AI for a period of 10 years if the player drops. The limited AI will not make any drastic changes to the empire, such as changing sectors, disbanding ships, declaring wars, etc, allowing a player to rejoin their empire pretty much as they left it.

 

[Clav]

I hope the improvements in AI reacting to end game crises is good! At the moment the Swarm are invading my galaxy and the AI don't react to them. I am having to go to war with some empires just so I can fly into their space to destroy the swarm.

We need better diplomacy options around this as well, fairly sure if I offered to go and kill the swarm for them they would be happy to do it.

 

[dirtybeatfreak]

Wow, the first patch looks awesome. Nearly every concern I have seen people mentioned is addressed and will be patched. Even some of my own that I agreed with (sector ai etc)

There is a detailed dev diary on the Clarke update with pics etc, well worth a read.

 

[northwestdakota]

This is the first Sci-Fi 4x game I have been able to get into. I really enjoy it, it's not too complicated at all and the tutorial system is quite good. I agree about all the issues with the game, but even with those in mind, it's still a decent game. Hopefully after a few patches it will be a great game. For now, I think I'll leave the game for a few weeks and come back to it after some patches.

 

[TheBrooder]

This is the first Sci-Fi 4x game I have been able to get into. I really enjoy it, it's not too complicated at all and the tutorial system is quite good. I agree about all the issues with the game, but even with those in mind, it's still a decent game. Hopefully after a few patches it will be a great game. For now, I think I'll leave the game for a few weeks and come back to it after some patches.

I've stopped at around 150 years into my first campaign, really enjoyed it but it seemed to become a bit boring in the mid-game, so, like you, I'm leaving it a few weeks.

 

[Defiant306]

Sector management is hacking me right off!!!!

 

[Smokey Deza]

This game wtf.

I Love these crisis events but the fact they've showed up on my doorstep again is really annoying. There's a 200k organic fleet rampaging through my empire and I'm pretty powerless to stop it without the help of my federation (who aren't bothered).

 

[Neil79]

Sector management is hacking me right off!!!!

It is ****

 

[Defiant306]

Worst is that you cant play without it due to the penalties that it inflicts and with it you loose control of production of crafts, your planets and posts. It basically makes the game too simple, I'm having right problems generating money now and that's with some mods that make the game easier via polices.

I get the feeling that now have to spam money generating buildings everywhere to allow me to field fleets about 5k each in size.

I think I might take a break from the game for the now and hope they fix this feature or at least give people an option to use it or not with out penalty.

 

[Clav]

Sweet!

https://twitter.com/StellarisGame/status/735796182690234368

Our first major patch (1.1 - Clarke) will be made available as a public beta patch later today! It will be launched properly in a few days.

No full patch notes as yet but here's a list copied from the Clarke Dev Diary post
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/stellaris-dev-diary-34-clarke-patch.936898/

AI IMPROVEMENTS

Greatly improved sector AI handling of pops, buildings, spaceports and mining stations.
Fixes for AI in end game crises.
Improvements and fixes to AI handling of its fleets.
Less restrictions on what the AI will trade and with who, especially in regards to border access.
In multiplayer, empires that are player-controlled will have a 'limited' AI for a period of 10 years if the player drops. The limited AI will not make any drastic changes to the empire, such as changing sectors, disbanding ships, declaring wars, etc, allowing a player to rejoin their empire pretty much as they left it.

We've also added a new option in galaxy setup where you can set the AI's overall aggressiveness.


EMPIRE BUILDER IMPROVEMENTS
We also took some time to add a pair of highly requested features to the empire builder. Namely, the ability to write a biography for your species and empire, and the ability to customize ruler titles. Ruler titles are customized separately by gender, and will remain even if you change government type, so long as the new government is of the same type as the previous one (so changing from a Monarchy to another Monarchy will not clear your ruler titles, while changing from a Monarchy to a Democracy will).


BALANCE CHANGES
While balance wasn't our main priority for Clarke, we nonetheless targeted a few major balance issues. A few highlights:
War score costs now scale to the size of your target, so you can take more planets from large empires but can't vassalize them in a single war.
The ability to stack evasion on Corvettes was nerfed.
Strike craft had their range substantially increased.
Ethics were rebalanced to make Xenophile/Xenophobe stronger picks, among other changes.
It is no longer necessary to control planets to demand them in war, but controlling planets that are set as wargoals are now worth more warscore.
Technology cost is now increased both by number of planets owned and size of population, instead of just population. Accordingly, the tech increase cost from population was lowered.

BUG FIXES
In addition to all this, Clarke naturally also includes dozens of fixes for bugs large and small. A few highlights:
Military Station maintenance is now correctly calculated (was far too high previously).
Numerous fixes to events, including fixing up the Old Gods event chain.
Fixed 'ghost' trade deal entries and trade deals silently failing when you traded above a certain percentage of your resource stockpiles.
Democracies that don't allow slavery will no longer get the Slaver mandate.
Difficulty settings are now available in multiplayer setup.

 

[Darujhistan]

I think as ever with Paradox games, you're better off waiting a wee while for a better product, they do listen to fans and they do patch constantly. It definitely sounds like the base is there for a very good game but it needs polishing. I bet HOI IV will be the same way.

 

[Panos]

I do look forward to see the changes with the patch tonight.
Funny because I was looking forward to TW Warhammer since it was announced and picked this the day after release just to have a look, and hadnt heard of it.

And while having both, I am enjoying playing stellaris more at the moment.

 

[dirtybeatfreak]

There is a much more detailed list than the above floating around. I'm pretty sure there are a lot of UI changes coming as well. I remember being really impressed that they addressed so many issues I seen mentioned on the official forums (and here).

Looking forward to trying it this eve

 

[Tiny Clanger]

I love the idea of Sectors - but I have to admit that I don't understand why I (as the leader of my race) is only capable of controlling an handful of worlds whereas I can appoint a Sector Governor with no prior experience to manage as many worlds as I can shove into the Sector - seemingly without any penalty whatsoever...

 

[Panos]

I love the idea of Sectors - but I have to admit that I don't understand why I (as the leader of my race) is only capable of controlling an handful of worlds whereas I can appoint a Sector Governor with no prior experience to manage as many worlds as I can shove into the Sector - seemingly without any penalty whatsoever...

There are mods if you want to play it as Master of Orion.

However the game is more complex. Because factions arise within the provinces etc

 

[Tiny Clanger]

There are mods if you want to play it as Master of Orion.

No - I don't want to play it as Master of Orion - otherwise I would have bought Master of Orion .

I probably explained it badly... I do want sectors but I'm confused as to why sector governors don't seem to have the same limitations as "I" do. It would be good to have the ability to have more, smaller sectors and governors - I assume there either already is (or soon will be) a mod for this...

Edit - ah - does the number of available sectors you're allowed increase with the number of planets owned?