Taggs: Overhaul; Rework; Reboot; General Ideas; Gameplay-Fix; Core-Mechanics

Spoiler: Paradox Games and Stellaris

With CK2 we have such a strong RPG-like RTS so different from other games like Warcraft or Age of Empires that it deserved to have his own game genre. With CK2 we do not play history ... we write it our self.

EU4 might be lot lighter on the story driven part but the sheer scale of it's world and the wonderful diplomatic system, combined with national specific event chains, as well as localized difference in game-play around the globe, and an CB-system that gives the feeling not everything is lost or won in a single war.

With VicII we go through one of the soaring times of our history, shaping not the world but our own empire. We topple or keep governments, kingdoms and dynasties, close the last blank spaces on the map not just by setting a settler to the next area, but by challenging our self to go through a hectic race of technological advancement, and an global economy, and even have to keep an eye on the diplomatic world which again found new rules to play with, and while with all of this we didn't addressed yet that this all happens in a mere century and few years.

And with the last in line HoI III or IV we come to an even shorter span of time where all the battles before can't hold up anymore and Steel and Fire and Gunpowder alone aren't enough anymore, as we battle through land, water and sky, again going a bit simpler with HoI IV but still holding up quit decent in the aspect of economic challenge and military planing.

And then we have Stellaris ... but what is that makes the future look so promising? That makes Science-fiction so appealing? The dream of exploration? Of knowing the unknown? Exploring the depths of our own existence? Thrive against real and unreal threats? Battling against the odds? Shaping even grander empires?

In It's basics Stellaris does try to embody this aspects in some sort or another but the older formula used by Paradox to keep their game different and unique doesn't apply here anymore or better it doesn't work well ... it is an game with a long period of time to span (technically unending and so the first of it's kind) ... and an really light core mechanics from start to end. As Pointed out any of the older Paradox games has a strong historical thematic it's thriving on, it's uplift, while also cherish it's own core mechanics:And then we have Stellaris ... but what is that makes the future look so promising? That makes Science-fiction so appealing? The dream of exploration? Of knowing the unknown? Exploring the depths of our own existence? Thrive against real and unreal threats? Battling against the odds? Shaping even grander empires?In It's basics Stellaris does try to embody this aspects in some sort or another but the older formula used by Paradox to keep their game different and unique doesn't apply here anymore or better it doesn't work well ... it is an game with a long period of time to span (technically unending and so the first of it's kind) ... and an really light core mechanics from start to end.

Spoiler: Criticism on Stellaris

Spoiler: Economy Economy just exits to bother you in the beginning and hinder your enemies to catch up in the end. For the future and for space-faring we would assume that new worlds, knowledge and technology would make us look for new unknown materials, to improve our economy and understanding of the universe, to improve our society and our selfs. But the game is reduced to a short number of resources we use and need ... missing any sort of internal or external trading, reducing the industry to an even lesser number of participants that just extract and spend ... while there are some advanced resources that add interesting bonuses to planets and ships, it got gobbled up in an even simpler system, getting rid of any local restriction or finite but valuable factor for military or diplomatic use, making the game even more flat. Not to forget how trivial it is to develop planets, just more minerals for more minerals for more minerals. While this in one way or another can be dealt with it still feels so weak to improve a single planet just with a few clicks while we were battling before over the control of just a bit of the same body ... by facing so many already explained challenges. As i said... it is understandable to simplify things for the good of the grander sheme ... but what is it good when the standards are so low that even the dark age is more compelling? Which in fact are even lower, but fit the time and theme. Spoiler: Exploration Exploration is another important concept, which got a bit better over the course of time with the one or other story DLCs, but in the end ... it's all sums up to buying maps from the AI and be done with. I mean there is such a great potential with the current script-event concept like in the other games, but it lacks not only variation (with is understandable) but also depth as well ... there are a few interesting or entertaining re-looping chain events (one more annoying than the next repetition), but for the most parts ... just one message ... one role with the dice ... deal with it. Just how much time could you invest in a single planet, when we aren't even finished with our own yet? 30 days? sure sounds fine. It's even more absurd when you trade maps with the AI and reveal all the planets giving up on the change to find something new on your own. Spoiler: Science Science is the aspect of the game I hate the most, if i want to punish myself for the urge to expand and gather new resources, settle new land for my people and let them prosper ... I would play sidmeier's Civ. Even the idea of increasing research time with increasing population hurts my brain. This is such an simplified concept of the correlation between literacy/education/science that i can't even understand why somebody would do this to begin with. Expansion is what drives us to be smarter ... it is what fuels our interest ... feeds and fills our brains with more Ideas and thoughts and questions about the universe. Again even the dark-age with CK2 had it better where science was something that could be advanced but also had to be spread to be fully utilized or EU IV with it's Institutions tries to ties advancement and spread together. I stopped playing the game heartily when the number of colonized planets even added more to the penalty for research ... it's like wiping myself all over again. Spoiler: Expansion Expansion is already doomed more or less ... it became a bit better when the change came that you could build colony ships from the start. But the cost-gain curve of expansion is still so frustrating, especially when having neighbours. It's like waiting for the bus, only to check the clock and when you look up it drives away. The whole concept of influence is so exhausting it stops you from expanding (or anybody else) but doesn't give you anything in return in hopes of catching up to the big ones. Spoiler: Diplomacy Do we even need to talk about Diplomacy? For Multiplayer it's probably serviceable, barely even so. We have so many different forms of governments and societies to chose from ... from xeno-loving peace keeper, over dominant imperialists to hive minds that doesn't care about such trivial matters, rightfully so. It doesn't matter who you are ... if you have people that like you ... federate ... if don't ... conquer. It's even more ridiculous in MP if you doesn't have any means of diplomacy as Hive mind, everybody just teams up and you never get going. There is no effort in it, nothing that makes it feel worth, at most it's just a mean to get some non-aggression packs with your fellow militant next to you to back-stab later. Spoiler: Conquest Well conquest is also good ... who doesn't like some epic space-battles with lasers and guns and tentacles? Okay there are people who would shrug but who comes to Stellaris loves this for sure. While the basic concept looks quite right it again somehow flawed even with out problems in balancing and bugs. Small ships small weapons, big ships big weapons, big beats smaller, smallest is hard to beat by biggest, but smallest has sometimes the luck to beat the biggest ... or so you would think when you watch Star Wars or any other related to Sci-fic. So many great episodes of challenging fights: finding weak-points, system failures, power-management, structural failure, hull-breaches, boarding enemies, dying red-shirts, power-core meltdowns, exploding tanks and ammunition or shooting a torpedo into the exhaust-port ... and fast-paced fighter combat and ... and balanced fleet composition or specialist prototypes and ... no? The fighting is just some sort of generic "throwing numbers at the problem" (not that a PC game is anything else), the more the better. But still if the fallen-empire wakes up to soon bad for you, because science bonus! Oh and you took rockets ... no mid or late-game for you then. There is no supply needed, no range for your ships, no reason to leave something behind or group up smaller. Just take everything with you, fly to the other side of the galaxy and beat the baddies some of your friend's friend's friendly enemies has problems there .. oh that's you? 40k attack power out of nowhere, from the far delta-quadrant? Must be cyborg I'm sure of it. Spoiler: Politics So when you don't find challenge out there do you find them inside your realm? There are factions right? Right ... that's it. You would think that when you have some sort of democratic government you would find parties fighting over the power... nope. When playing some sort if liberal enterprise or union of different companies you would have fight over mining right or patents or copyrights ... no not here. Or some sort of dictatorship always on the watch for ambitious up-comer or bothersome rebels ... well sort of some times ... they still love you. That's probably the only positive about expanding ... it's freaking doesn't matter at all, just more minerals for your pylons ...oh wrong game. Like before I already mentioned that I think Stellaris draws in it's player really badly... there are a few hurdles in the beginning that in the end doesn't bother you at all, or even feel like the aren't there anymore. Every aspect of the earlier games shriveled down so much you can almost negate them as well:

What happened to Stellaris in the last one and 1/2 year is really great, and while for a couple of reasons I never got into it again, it's nice to see that some thoughts here and there got into the game. While it is a shame that some features, like planetary surface got scraped and sectors for now are a bit lost, there are so many things I like right now about the game ...The building revamp was awesome as so much simpler (simple in simplicity not low effort ... probably took a lot of work to redo all this) than I thought it could be, still adding so much more to the game than there was in the beginning.Also the population overhaul coming with the new building mechanic I love a lot ... just a bit hard to move people around where i want them ... if player could have more control over the actual slots and lock and fill them how they want, rather than just hope the game arrange it with sense. Still it's fun to watch as the population grows, industry is rising and commerce and consume reign.Also star-bases are really lovely and the trade routes mechanic has a lot of potential, I really look forward. It's great to build up strategic structures around the galaxy ... making them to impenetrable fortresses or corner stones of my supply lines ... while i feel later aspect comes a bit short it's still cool how you can vary between the load-out.Of course fleets were revamped much much earlier before all the other fun stuff, but still I like to mention how I like the change from a usability point of view ... so good that you can rebuild/re-purpose from a single manager ... still I'm not so sure if it really changed a lot in point of game-play as you can still move multiple fleets around the same star system without any drawback.At last the change I like the most and what really bothered me before was the debuff on research from expanding your empire, which I found questionable in many cases. While it isn't too different from early start of the game it gives you more of the feeling that you as the player could handle it ... that it doesn't wants to stop you congenitally, but give you more of a scale how balanced your approach is.So far I love what Stellaris is becoming and from what I can see we get with Acient Relics it's another step in the right direction .. while it may be a small one, but none the less it's good to see the game improve in the aspect of exploration.There are also a few things I like to mention that are still on my mind and never got out:... it's a bit sad that the old approach on different means to travel around got scraped for a more stream-lined mechanic. It's understandable as the old triangle of warp, hyperlane, wormhole had a lot of issues regarding balance and reasonable player-AI interaction. Still it's sad that the old freedom (and madness) of the warp was traded for the more common hyperlane that makes the game feel quite rigid. I feel that the game could gain a lot more from an "open" way of traveling combined with (maybe starbase upgrades) ways to hinder the enemy to move in and out just like that. Also all three ways to travel feel like they should be there to keep the game at pace at any moment in the game-phase ... warp for early game and warfare ... hyperlane for mid-game and internal trade/logistics ... and wormhole for late-game and battle between big empires. Well the newer versions of worm-holes are much better than the plane old worm-hole generator but from time to time I miss the clunky device.First i must say that two changes really make the early game a lot smoother .... first that space structures like mines, aren't destroyed anymore in wars and second the adding of alloys as materials for ships and the use of minerals for space structures. It makes it a lot easier and ongoing to build up an infrastructure while also adding more ships to your empire (or expand). It's a great change but it still feels a bit weird how everything in space has to be a static structure for you to benefit from. Having planets, starbases or something similar could function as a gathering spot from there you gather materials from bordering systems. Maybe similar how starbases can collect tradevalue from other systems. But what i would like to see if you could build up your fleet and use this as means to collect materials of other systems. This also brings me to the next point ...I'm not a huge fan of how the game forces the player to use this typ of ship/fleet to go on exploring and the other to go and build and another to sit and wait until you like to fight a bit. It would feel more natural if all fleet could do the same, just what type of ship/equipment they are setup with could speed it up/determine the outcome. So the same fleet you send out to battle pirates could also use their capacity to mine, ore explore, or research or build infrastructure. There is also a similar idea about merging all leader into the same pool and use there trait's for every aspect of the game rather than have multiple types of people you need to use ... but that's a smaller thought for now.This is a point i wanted to make much much earlier, but never got to it ... the actual problem I still have with stellaris is that you have 3 mayor fields of science ... but only one gives you bigger ships/structures. And while it makes sense from a technically point of view, that of course engineers should be the people to make "bigger" ships ... it still feels unbalanced ... if for what ever reason you do not have enough excess to engineer research or doesn't want to push it for personal preference the game still forces you a bit. Therefor i would like to see some sort of split up of different typ of ships for the same size/class ... like a corvette under physics, that could have a higher emphasis on energy and laser weapons or an early society destroyer with a support for fighter/bomber. Also i always find it sad that while you research a type of ship ... you never get the chance to research more/better sections for them.Actually when I wrote about all the other stuff year and months ago, there was a game out there called "Halcyon 6: Starbase Commander" which really pushed this Idea into my head. Just never got to write about it.combined or maybe alone from the last Idea, this is about giving single ships more value like in more common games of this genre ... when taking a look at sins of solar empires, star wars empire at war or star trek fleet commander ships all had some abilities, some more unique some more common but in most cases could still influence the curse of battle or give the ship a much higher value that it in other cases would have.enough for now ...thanks again for your time and interest.[Sep 28, 2017]So from while to while I come back to take a look on the state of Stellaris and most of times I smile a bit happily about tweaks and twitches ... but sadly for the most time I just lose a sigh and close the game as quickly as I opened it. It was my first game from paradox and while before i watched a lot of YT and Streams about EU IV, HoI, Vic II of course ck2 as well, and I was quite delighted about the content and game-play, sadly the harsh numbers of DLCs for the greater titles brought me back from buying any game until Stellaris came about. Or to say it short ... I had a lot of hopes for the game which are still more or less unsatisfied. You could say from this hole I came to stuck with a few sales of CK2 and even Vic, what in return even amplified my regrets I have with Stellaris as a whole.Stellaris is a nice framework for some light entertainment but it can't really hold up to the other titles of this company or games of the same genre. I'm not even sure where i should start to explain my dissatisfaction: Should I start to explain why i feel the arc of suspense the game is drawing doesn't drive me to play another round? Or should i start with with some short statements why I preferred to play other games rather than Stellaris?I think the best would be a rough summary: We fought our way through the dark and middle age ... we made our dynasty our land our kingdoms survive through history ... stepping up into grander schemes of the world. We conquered ... found new lands ... put our foot into the door of the future ... we followed and led our Nations through internal crises, social uproar and made our culture and way of life a thriving standard around the world ... only to find us in war more gruesome, costly and mechanical then ever before ... just to stand before the stars. And then we took this last but so important, so frenetic anticipated step ... for what? To where?To be fair I'm not just here for ranting, there are still some Ideas i want to share with, but for the introduction this should make clear what i think about the current state of the game ...