Stellaris: Iron Victoria Europa Kings in space!

[Dewar]

I had no idea what this game was actually going to be. I'm really intrigued now. 

[sclpls]

Yeah, the gameplay footage definitely has looked great! I was really uninterested when this game was first announced, but I am totally on board with Stellaris at this point.

[Vesperan]

Oh god no it has a ship designer. I think the last one of those I properly enjoyed was Master of Orion. The original. When it was first released!

 

Alpha Centauri's was passable, and Gal Civ 1/2 weren't that bad... except that the AI couldn't play that scissors/paper/rock design style at all.

[Cordeos]

Oh god no it has a ship designer. I think the last one of those I properly enjoyed was Master of Orion. The original. When it was first released!

 

Alpha Centauri's was passable, and Gal Civ 1/2 weren't that bad... except that the AI couldn't play that scissors/paper/rock design style at all.

The ship designer looks really basic so hopefully it won't be a big issue

[Sorbicol]

The ship designer looks really basic so hopefully it won't be a big issue

Yeah u was thinking that. Same with the combat. Looks to me like the focus is going to be exploration rather than extermination. I don't mind ship designers where you aren't so much designing the ship as configuring its payload.

[Forderz]

Just as an aside, Paradox's press conference at GDC was hilariously, amazingly, perfectly bad.

Multiple references to the American Primaries, automatically assuming you know the exact date of D-day because, hey, you wouldn't be watching this otherwise, a couple technical snafus, and people walking out before they are introduced.

Stellaris looks more amazing with every video I see.

Edit: link because I'm dumb.

[DocRandal]

 

[Pause.Time]

I would love if you guys did some content for Stellaris before its released. Some sort of interview with a developer or impressions you have of a pre-release build.

[Sorbicol]

Those Blorg you tube videos have been pretty good over all. Maybe it's just me but the games mechanics do feel a little conservative. There's not much there yet that hasn't been done a thousand times before, although the political/diplomatic system does look considerably more involved.

[Dewar]

I guess this is coming out on May 9th? Arumba has said he will be able to play it on the 3rd, and maybe a week earlier than that if he's lucky, so hopefully we'll start seeing some full on (not developer lead) youtube coverage.

[DocRandal]

The Blorg casts show a familiar setup, but there's enough new and/or more interesting in there that I'm still sold for the following reasons:

 

1) They're playing buggy nightly builds so I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

2) They're deliberately skipping a lot of detail in favor of just showing as many game systems as possible.

3) There's been no late-game events yet as they're just getting into the mid-game.

 

Yes, early May launch. I vaguely remember May 8th or 9th.

[Sorbicol]

May 9th I believe. The Blorg videos have really wetted my appetite for the game too. It might start fairly conservatively, but my word all those systems keep piling on to make it look like something really special

I confess I've pre-ordered.

[honestade]

I finally upgraded my PC so I can play Stellaris when it comes out, but I'm too scared to watch the preview videos. My attitude is that it's Paradox, so it must be good, but with 4X games, the Master of Orion 3 scars run deep...

[Sorbicol]

I've been using the blog as an extended lets play tutorial to be honest. Paradox in game tutorials are basically rubbish, if they exist at all

[Turrican]

Not long now. This should be epic!

[Dewar]

I think I'm going to go in mostly cold the first time, fail miserably, and then start watching some videos. There's something about the first few hours of a Paradox game where there are so many options and you just get lost that I really enjoy.

[riadsala]

I think I'm going to go in mostly cold the first time, fail miserably, and then start watching some videos. There's something about the first few hours of a Paradox game where there are so many options and you just get lost that I really enjoy.

 

 

Somebody else like me! Also, when you don't really know what's going on, the game feels so much larger, expansive and full of possibilities.

[Salacious Snake]

Somebody else like me! Also, when you don't really know what's going on, the game feels so much larger, expansive and full of possibilities.

That's part of why it's so hard to recapture the wonder that games can create when you're a kid. Even if you don't know the specifics of a certain game, you'll still generally have a realistic idea of what's possible in it.

Like, it turns out that Star Control 2 is a pretty simple game, but even at the mature age of 13 it felt like a living universe was inside my 3DO.

Feeling mad wistful over here.

[Nappi]

Judging by the Giant Bomb Quick Look, it seems that this game has enough systems in place to produce feelings of discovery and wonder as well as really hilarious hijinks, while still remaining manageable. Might have to day-one perch this one.

 

So, many good games this year... this is ridiculous.

[honestade]

Judging by the Giant Bomb Quick Look, it seems that this game has enough systems in place to produce feelings of discovery and wonder as well as really hilarious hijinks, while still remaining manageable. Might have to day-one perch this one.

 

So, many good games this year... this is ridiculous.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure this is the first game I've pre-ordered...man, I'm excited about it. Why oh why do you release on a Monday, Paradox??

[Gormongous]

I had just preordered yesterday, after the Giant Bomb Quick Look sold me, but now there's a worrying kerfuffle on the Paradox forums because the design team couldn't agree as to how they should balance slave revolts, so they took revolts out. Slaves are now just pops that have no happiness rating themselves but decrease the happiness ratings of other pops around them. That's whatever, I don't know, but "New Paradox" is responding with a lot of "Old Paradox" disregard for fan reactions. The design lead says that slave revolts aren't needed, but promises rather dismissively to reconsider if fan feedback demands it. The AI lead says that the removal of slave revolts doesn't make slavery "terribly overpowered." The PR lead says that he hasn't noticed slavery being overpowered but suggests "house rules" for those who do. It's just... not encouraging, to see the "we know what's actually fun" philosophy, especially after the pile of crap that CK2 gradually became post-The Old Gods...

[fledermaus]

As someone who played the first europa universalis, this is Christmas, 4th of July and Flag Day all rolled into one.  I have been waiting on a paradox space grand strategy since CK2

[Vulpes Absurda]

I wasn't planing to pick this up but I guess I can play as evil gerrymandering space foxes so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[graddy]

Off world is filling my strategy hole (plus, need to do the multiplayer RTS when the community is strongest) right now but I will pick up this excellent sounding single player game later this year. Austin Walker more than sold me.

[prettyunsmart]

For those who have been following this game, how does it look in terms of accessibility for people who are terrible at learning strategy games? I've been interested in getting into games like Crusader Kings since hearing the Thumbs talk about the adventures of Ragnar a few years ago, but when I tried to play myself, I just struggled to get started. Does Stellaris seem any better at teaching new players how to play it?