MisterBenn wrote on May 15, 2019, 09:39:
I must confess I left Stellaris behind too after the Megacorp release. It was a culmination of several issues. The game is still not feature complete 3 years after release (still no intelligence layer.) The diplomacy has plenty of features but the AI barely participates, other than to just set diplomatic status according to its like/dislike score. The gameplay systems seem overly restrictive (forced end war, can only declare on certain people, and so on) which leads to a gamey feel that I didn't expect from a sandpit style game with huge galaxies. There are too many abstract resources to balance that add to the gamey feeling. The DLC have added additional playstyles but in effect they have added multiple ways to do things with a lot of overlap, that seems to have bloated the feature list without really enriching the strategies you can get involved with.

The DLC policy has contributed to a feeling that Stellaris has been an ever-changing beast... the game is designed a certain way, it settles down, some nice mods appear on top and it feels pretty stable. Then a major update comes out, the mods don't work, some central game functions are completely reworked, many critical functions and gui items cease working, and everything feels like it's regressed for a few weeks while official patches and mods scramble to become stable again. It seemed ridiculous to me that for significant periods of time after release, major parts of the game were not working at all. Or like with the megacorp release, the AI was completely non-functional for weeks after release. You've gotta have a lot of faith in the game to overlook things like that and trust that it will eventually get there - for me though I just felt that this was unacceptable for a released game. There are definitely some positives to the Paradox/Stellaris business model... some of the reworked mechanics are clear improvements to original versions. But I have ended up disillusioned where things feel too much like they are engineered to keep customers in the pocket, paying for updates for the life of the game.

Much as that was a bit of a rant, there's a lot to like in the game. It clearly has the best space 4x flavour around imo, with nods to pretty much any sci-fi book/TV/film that you happen to love. If somehow you are into multiplayer then the Stellaris engine is great for that. I know the game makes a lot of people happy - I think you have to be the type of player that will happily accept the mechanics and the dev cycle the way they are, and be in it to enjoy the ride.

Edit: oh - check out the Starnet AI mod. It's a rework for the AI players that makes them a lot more like a multiplayer game (emphasis on military techs, maintain large fleets and swallow up weaker neighbours with no remorse.) Several people have said this AI is genuinely a big threat. No idea as to the status of the mod with regards to the latest DLC that came out, but the prospect of AI players that can actually kick your ass is pretty inviting.

FloorPie wrote on May 14, 2019, 20:01:
Oh, and you couldn't declare war on someone you didnt share a border with.

Simon Says wrote on May 14, 2019, 16:22:
Have you played recently? Even on a high end CPU with lots of ram ( i7-8700 + 24GB ) in the smallest galaxy and only 4-5 AIs, the mid to late game becomes a laggy, stuttery, slideshow mess until it comes to a screeching halt. I haven't been able to finish a single game.

Googled the issue, found out it had been widespread for several patches and Paradox didn't even care.

Consider yourself lucky you're not affected I guess.

Edit: It's a trend with paradox games, Hearts of Iron IV suffers from the exact same issue.

Simon Says wrote on May 14, 2019, 16:12:
Game is unplayable in mid to late game and they're still adding content?

What about bug fixing first?

Undocumented Alien wrote on May 14, 2019, 16:09:
Just started playing Stellaris again after a long break, liking the new 2.2 update and always like to add the Story Packs to have more content to explore. Will add this DLC when it comes out.

Creston wrote on May 14, 2019, 16:14:

Simon Says wrote on May 14, 2019, 16:12:
Game is unplayable in mid to late game and they're still adding content?

What about bug fixing first?

What about it is unplayable? I've played a dozen games to the end without issues? Unless you're talking about the mop-up action being boring, in which case I will agree. I tend to stop after the Galaxy Crisis has been taken care of, at which point I can literally roflstomp everyone else, just don't feel like doing so. Only time I ever play all the way to the finish is if I get a war of the heavens. (God, I love that event. Complete with Babylon 5 quotes!)

Simon Says wrote on May 14, 2019, 16:12:
Game is unplayable in mid to late game and they're still adding content?

What about bug fixing first?