Current Events > Stellaris 2.0 Hype Thread

(+) Yeah! (+)

The Stellaris 2.0 Patch(Cherryh) and accompanying Apocalypse expansion go live in a week(2/22).

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/stellaris-dev-diary-105-2-0-cherryh-patch-notes.1069794/
Patch notes are out, but I'll summarize for those looking for brevity.

-Apocalypse features, among other things, Colossi(ships that can destroy planets), Titans(massive flagships), and Marauders. Marauders will raid your borders, but can also be hired as mercenaries, and may also coalesce behind a Great Khan around mid-game.

-Cherryh Features.
*All empires use hyperlanes. Natural wormholes exist and can be stabilized to allow for point-to-point travel. Ancient gateways also exist, and new ones may be built(eventually). Jump Drives now allow you to "jump" to a nearby system without needing a hyperlane link, and can also bypass FTL inhibitors(but only a single jump).
*Systems are now exclusively claimed by building star bases in them and/or colonizing a planet. All military ship construction is done by star bases, which may be upgraded with a number of different modules with defensive, constructive, and economic benefits. Upgraded star bases cost maintenance and you can only have so many, but level 0 star bases do not count against the cap.
*Max fleet size is now capped
*Defensive armies are no longer a thing, and are instead generated by buildings(including government buildings). Assault transport fleets can now be automated to follow military fleets and invade planets automatically if the odds of success are good.
*Expanded tech tree, new civics, new ascension perks

In fact, I'll list the new civics, because they're cool:
Life-Seeded: Your species starts with a Size-25 Gaia world as their homeworld, but is poorly adapted to live on less ideal planets.
Survivor: Your species survived nuclear armageddon. Your home world is a Tomb World and your species can settle Tomb Worlds comfortably.
Barbaric Despoilers: When your fleets bombard enemy planets, they can steal pops.(There's also an Ascension Perk that does this. Barbaric Despoilers are barred from taking it, for obvious reasons).

For better or worse, Stellaris 2.0 figures to be a much different beast. I, personally, am optimistic. I'm familiar with the lead desginer's work. Martin "Wiz" Anward made a lot of great mods in his day, and presided over the fantastic Art of War expansion for EU4, but it may not be to everyone's liking.

I've been waiting on this for months so I can finally learn the game
---

Oh yeah, and Stellaris is on sale right now on Steam. The excellent Utopia expansion as well.
DarthAragorn posted...

I've been waiting on this for months so I can finally learn the game

I haven't played the game in months in preparation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-wTKKod0rQ
New main theme.

I tried playing this, have about 5 hours in it. It's complicated. x_x I'm like, brand spanking new to 4X games though so yeah.
---

I really enjoyed the time I've spent with it so far. But it's such a massive game that I don't know when I'll even see all of the Vanilla game, let alone Utopia and now this.
---

I completely forgot this is coming out, holy shit Im erect again.
---

ElatedVenusaur posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-wTKKod0rQ
New main theme.

damn that's amazing
---

Leanaunfurled posted...

I tried playing this, have about 5 hours in it. It's complicated. x_x I'm like, brand spanking new to 4X games though so yeah.

It definitely takes time to learn the ropes. My suggestion would be to play a race that's Adaptive and doesn't run any of the more exotic civics(i.e. Gestalt Consciousness, Inward Perfection, Fanatical Purifiers, etc.) so you have less to keep track of/worry about. Maybe even turn down the number of other empires as well.

Have some images.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DV_L67UWkAA5Nbx.jpg
Humanoid colossus.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DVi8QQLWkAIGdjx.jpg:large
One of the new Ascension Perks.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DVh5ugGWAAAAdC8.jpg
A new late-game tech allows you to essentially convert energy into minerals.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DVV0D14W4AA1T8q.jpg:large
Another colossus, with some cute place-holder art.

Oh, it's probably worth mentioning that Stellaris and its expansions are on-sale in multiple places, including the (essential) Utopia expansion at -50% off. In fact, the Paradox Store offers it as a 3-for-2 option(presumably the cheapest eligible thing you pick up is free).
https://www.paradoxplaza.com/stellaris/STST01G-MASTER.html
Of course, everything from EU4 to CK2 to HoI4 to Tyranny expacs are eligible.

As far as Stellaris expansions go...

Must-Have
Utopia- Utopia adds Ascension Perks. Although Ascension Perks will become a base-game feature as of the 2.0 patch, the Biological, Technological(Synth), and Psionic Ascension Paths will remain locked by Utopia. It also offers Orbital Habitats, hive minds, and megastructures.

Good
Leviathans- Leviathans reworks exofauna(space monsters) to appear in clusters and adds a number of terrifyingly powerful uniques with varying rewards for killing them. It also adds special outposts. These outposts are inhabited by aliens who have been pursuing business, science, or the arts since time immemorial, and offer a variety of perks, for a price, of course.

Niche(but good)
Synthetic Dawn- This relates entirely to Machine Empires. You can make machine empires, in four flavors. The default machine empire type is similar to a (regular) hive mind, but the three variants are Determined Exterminators(they seek to eradicate all organic life), Assimilators(they seek to forcibly cyborgize all organic life and integrate it into the machine intelligence), and Rogue Servitors(robots who seek to "protect" organic lifeforms by confining them to lavish preserves where they are aggressively pampered). It also adds an additional Fallen Empire type(a machine empire seemingly designed to protect organics.....but from what?)

Pretty(but no game-play ramifications)
Plantoids Pack- Plant people portraits, complete with their own city art and ship set. They're pretty good.

Humanoids Pack- Star Trek-style "rubber forehead" aliens(including dwarves, orcs, and a cyclops!), as well as unique city art and a ship set.

Free
Horizon Signal- An event pack written by Alexis Kennedy(Sunless Sea). Primarily centered around the eponymous event.