Stellaris: New Paradox Sci Fi Grand Strategy

baelthazar · Post by **baelthazar** » Fri Oct 28, 2016 4:19 pm

Reply # 1000 for the thread! Whoo hoo!

It turned out that my patching updating issue was fixed when I turned off my PC and restarted. Not sure what that was about. I intend to jump back into this, once I finish my Civ VI learning game. I hear that the Fallen Empire stuff in interesting, but that there is just not a lot more meat to the game. I enjoyed my forays into it so far, but wish it had a little more in the way of interesting events, like Crusader Kings 2.

Nightwish · Post by **Nightwish** » Mon Oct 31, 2016 1:34 pm

GreenGoo wrote:If someone trades me star charts, do I lose the possibility of surveying those systems and/or finding anomalies? That would seem to be a really large negative from trading for star charts.

As far as I've read, anomalies aren't race specific, so if you get a map there are no new anomalies there. At least that's how it's supposed to work.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Mon Oct 31, 2016 3:50 pm

Nightwish wrote:
GreenGoo wrote:If someone trades me star charts, do I lose the possibility of surveying those systems and/or finding anomalies? That would seem to be a really large negative from trading for star charts.
As far as I've read, anomalies aren't race specific, so if you get a map there are no new anomalies there. At least that's how it's supposed to work.

Hmmm. I read the forums seeming to say it was the other way around. But that was first generation, so patches may have changed. That, and they were forums (redit, I think), not even a wiki, so people can say anything and I have no way of knowing if it's true or not.

I never trade for start charts based on the assumption that I may find something in my survey they may have missed in theirs. The survey dynamic is never actually explained anywhere which suggests some modder somewhere will need to find a file the keys in how the surveys really work.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Mon Oct 31, 2016 3:57 pm

I have absolutely found anomalies in systems that were colonized by another empire, after conquering and surveying it. While that is not definitive evidence, I'm going to call it close enough and assume anomalies are random chance when they are surveyed by each empire, separately.

Would be interesting to see several empires find resource anomalies on the same planet. Could get crazy.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Mon Oct 31, 2016 4:07 pm

GreenGoo wrote:I have absolutely found anomalies in systems that were colonized by another empire, after conquering and surveying it. While that is not definitive evidence, I'm going to call it close enough and assume anomalies are random chance when they are surveyed by each empire, separately.

Ditto. I do not trade maps for this experience. I have no way of knowing those examples are because the system wasn't fully surveyed or not.

OTOH, I have never had computer player come in to my fully surveyed system and then have a resource suddenly appear out of nowhere. Is that because they don't reveal their findings to me unless they are mining? Is it bad luck? Or are they destined to fail? I dunno.

Would be interesting to see several empires find resource anomalies on the same planet. Could get crazy.

That I am not going to assume. I am going to assume the anomalies exist and either they get found or they don't.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Mon Oct 31, 2016 6:32 pm

Scientists have a trait that increase the chances of discovering an anomaly. That to me means the anomaly is generated on the fly, at survey time. If it was first come/first find, we'd (probably) never find an anomaly in a foreign system, particularly one that had an enemy colony in it. I don't think you can colonize a planet that hasn't been surveyed, and the ai is not shy about science ships, so chances are they surveyed all the planets in the system. If you find an anomaly AFTER that, that to me means that each empire gets the survey for a chance at anomalies.

Since a lot of anomalies just translate directly into resource bonuses on the planet, it is conceivable (to me at least) that as each empire surveys a planet, it *could*, depending on the anomaly generation code, result in an anomaly on a planet that already has bonus resources.

Moat_Man · Post by **Moat_Man** » Mon Oct 31, 2016 8:46 pm

Based on my reading of the Stellaris forums, when systems are "revealed" after gaining a star chart through trade you can't survey them anymore. Therefore you can't find anomalies in those systems.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Mon Oct 31, 2016 9:36 pm

Moat_Man wrote:Based on my reading of the Stellaris forums, when systems are "revealed" after gaining a star chart through trade you can't survey them anymore. Therefore you can't find anomalies in those systems.

Right, and that's what prompted my original question. The stars turn white (well, their names) and you get "high" (or maybe medium, don't remember exactly) sensor data on it. You can't survey a star with a white name, because a white name normally indicates a fully surveyed system.

Given that, plus the idea about multiple empires being able to survey the same system with different results, I'm of the opinion that trading for star charts is a bad idea, if you like to survey stuff.

Moat_Man · Post by **Moat_Man** » Mon Oct 31, 2016 10:54 pm

GreenGoo wrote:
Moat_Man wrote:Based on my reading of the Stellaris forums, when systems are "revealed" after gaining a star chart through trade you can't survey them anymore. Therefore you can't find anomalies in those systems.
Right, and that's what prompted my original question. The stars turn white (well, their names) and you get "high" (or maybe medium, don't remember exactly) sensor data on it. You can't survey a star with a white name, because a white name normally indicates a fully surveyed system.

Given that, plus the idea about multiple empires being able to survey the same system with different results, I'm of the opinion that trading for star charts is a bad idea, if you like to survey stuff.

I agree. Anomalies and their event chains are a large part of the fun.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Sat Nov 05, 2016 12:01 pm

My verdict after about 20 hours of Heinlein is space combat is still stupid. Meaning there is still absolutely no reason to build anything except corvette fleets. I was having a tough time with a game because I just had no planets/asteroids/anything that generated any physics researchs so I restarted.

I was Immediately penned in by 3 neighbors and I'm against the core. One of them looked weaker and a random event gave me a Battleship. So I have a battleship and 15 corvettes. My stuff has level 2 weapons, deflectors, and armor. My fleet power is a good 40% higher. He has 20 corvettes. His tech is all level I, no shields, no armor. Battle ends with 0 enemy ships destroyed. I load and retry it just to be sure it wasn't a fluke but the difference was the 5 corvettes DPS just overwhelming and killing enough of my ships to tilt the battles pretty much right off the bat; even with my better defense and a relatively higher DPS per unit. To test it I dropped the battleship and brought mine up to 20 corvettes to match and eeked out a close victory based on my technology being better. So while I still like the game - I feel the space combat is still pretty broken and boring. I'm going to see if anyone mods it to something more fun because spamming corvettes is just sorta lame IMO.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Sat Nov 05, 2016 12:56 pm

Can't say I've tested it, and I build a mix of everything because I'm the second biggest empire in the galaxy so resources aren't much of a problem (although I can empty my maxed mineral reserves with just 2 starbase build queues).

There seem to be tools available for handling corvettes, but I doubt the ai is very good at utilizing them. With the patch, it seems like corvettes actually have a higher evade rating than before, it's just that there are changes to weapons (and some new ones) that are supposed to counter that.

It still makes sense to build a screen of corvettes and destroyers to protect your larger assets.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Sat Nov 05, 2016 1:38 pm

4 words.

Orbital.
Mind.
Control.
Laser.

abr · Post by **abr** » Sat Nov 05, 2016 2:20 pm

GreenGoo wrote:Can't say I've tested it, and I build a mix of everything because I'm the second biggest empire in the galaxy so resources aren't much of a problem (although I can empty my maxed mineral reserves with just 2 starbase build queues).

There seem to be tools available for handling corvettes, but I doubt the ai is very good at utilizing them. With the patch, it seems like corvettes actually have a higher evade rating than before, it's just that there are changes to weapons (and some new ones) that are supposed to counter that.

It still makes sense to build a screen of corvettes and destroyers to protect your larger assets.

Yeah, the way I read the changes in Heinlein, battleships are useless against corvettes, destroyers are corvette killers.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Sat Nov 05, 2016 3:56 pm

I don't think battleships can mount anything below medium sized weapons. Without small, fast tracking weapons or point defense, they should have a very hard time killing corvettes (and zero chance of killing bombers).

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Sat Nov 05, 2016 9:44 pm

Well, a Fallen empire woke up and I accidentally become a protectorate (or whatever gives you autonomy but 25% resources to the boss race), so I declared war on it. Which of course put me in a war but did *not* remove the protectorate status.

Now he's chewing me up with 2 fleets at around 78k power each. The entirety of my ships together comes to 33k.

Not sure what to do. I might be able to get in the 60k range, but I'd never been able to move the fleet due to power maintenance costs.

I'm kind of like *head scratch*

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Wed Nov 09, 2016 12:54 pm

I've started a new game with an individualist fanatical materialist bend.

I've expanded to 5 colonies and decided to sit at this level for awhile while I tech up.

I tried to play last night but the election was too distracting and I simply couldn't concentrate.

I desperately need a game that will distract me from reality for awhile.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Wed Nov 09, 2016 1:26 pm

GreenGoo wrote:I desperately need a game that will distract me from reality for awhile.

My plan today has been to go home and decaffeinate as many Uruks as I can in Shadow of Mordor, but for some reason I'm feeling like Stellaris may be tugging at my sleeve hard enough to buy it. I could use some more complex mechanics to engage me instead of mindless slaughter.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Wed Nov 09, 2016 1:30 pm

Paingod wrote:
GreenGoo wrote:I desperately need a game that will distract me from reality for awhile.
My plan today has been to go home and decaffeinate as many Uruks as I can in Shadow of Mordor, but for some reason I'm feeling like Stellaris may be tugging at my sleeve hard enough to buy it. I could use some more complex mechanics to engage me instead of mindless slaughter.

Dude, "decaffeinate"? Haha.

Edit: Also, Stellaris is a good time, but every time I've tried a round, I sputter out in the mid-game.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Wed Nov 09, 2016 1:51 pm

NickAragua wrote:Dude, "decaffeinate"? Haha.

It sounds more civilized than decapitate...

Of the DLC packages, are any worth the extra investment? Plant race, Leviathans? I'm assuming I'd get the Nova edition, which includes the sound track and Spider racial skin.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Wed Nov 09, 2016 2:53 pm

I personally got the Leviathans. It provides some mid-game story content and little enclaves of random alien artists/traders. For example, I got in contact with an artist commune, which sold me artwork for a whopping 1000 minerals and 25 influence a pop, but I can then deploy it to any planet with an empty surface slot to increase happiness. Sign me up! There's also some end-game features with that one, but I never get to the end-game so I can't speak to it.

I would also just right away go look up the "More Events" mod and install it. It adds more, uh, events as planet anomalies and in general.

The plant race is just another set of ship models and leader faces so you can skip it.

I guess my thing about sputtering out in the mid game is that I enjoy the space exploration, early colony development and first contact phase of it more than I do the "galactic community" aspect of it, which seems a bit underdone.

ChuckB · Post by **ChuckB** » Wed Nov 09, 2016 3:03 pm

Hi,

Recently started to play Stellaris (after picking it up already at launch ...) and enjoying it quite a bit so far (according to Steam, I already spent 31hrs). I think I have started around 4-5 games but noticed the following (have played the Federation Humans, leaving most of the settings at default but removed the "advanced AI" options, or whatever it's called):

This game is difficult. Yes, I have some better and some worse starts but even when I start with 3-4 systems in immediate range to build mines, it takes a long time to build a navy that can deal with even the most basic enemies you encounter in the beginning (which are all around 700 mil power). I also learned that I need to be considerable MORE powerful to win a battle (example: attacking an enemy with 700 mil power seems to require a fleet of at least 1,000 mil power to win).
Also, had a game yesterday with a good start (made the mistake of trying to settle too far away too early in prior games) but then the AI put its own colonies (sometimes their first) smack in the middle of my territory.
One other point: I'm generally trying to stay out of trouble with the AI (especially neighbors) but the issue I have is that I'm not sure how to even improve relations (many AIs start with negative opinions). They do not seem to accept trades and I don't want to simply gift stuff - are there any other (active) options i have to live in peace with them for a while (and, ideally, prevent them from making my life harder by settling too close?)
Thinking about reducing the difficulty level for my next game, don't get me wrong, not trying to "game" the game or doing some min/max but it looks like I hardly stay a chance ...

Thanks

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Wed Nov 09, 2016 4:14 pm

ChuckB wrote:One other point: I'm generally trying to stay out of trouble with the AI (especially neighbors) but the issue I have is that I'm not sure how to even improve relations (many AIs start with negative opinions). They do not seem to accept trades and I don't want to simply gift stuff - are there any other (active) options i have to live in peace with them for a while (and, ideally, prevent them from making my life harder by settling too close?)

For starters, you want to mouse over the 'attitude' rating to get details on what's causing the attitude.
There's always a -20 'first contact' penalty that decays over time.
Some races are 'fanatical purifiers'. Those are hopeless so you can go ahead and rival them and grind them into dust without any regrets.
You can get an attitude boost by giving a race a 'favorable trade', meaning the acceptance rating is much higher than 1. This decays over time, and you're stuck in a crappy deal, but if you need a relations boost, you need a relations boost.
You can also get an attitude boost by 'guarantee independence', which will increase trust over time (trust improves attitude somewhat), at the cost of influence.
Find out what rivals they have and make rivals with those guys. "Shared Rivals" is a good attitude boost.
Be stronger militarily. Everybody wants to suck up to their big bad neighbor.

If you want to block alien expansion into territories you want, put up a frontier outpost. It can get expensive in terms of influence, but if you really want to stake out that chunk of space, you have that option. Just remember to take the outpost down if you put a colony in the same system.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Wed Nov 09, 2016 7:05 pm

NickAragua wrote:
Edit: Also, Stellaris is a good time, but every time I've tried a round, I sputter out in the mid-game.

So far that's been the case for me too. Luckily I play most of these games for the early race to dominance and not the end game which can be tedious in even the best 4x.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Wed Nov 09, 2016 7:13 pm

NickAragua wrote: You can get an attitude boost by giving a race a 'favorable trade', meaning the acceptance rating is much higher than 1. This decays over time, and you're stuck in a crappy deal, but if you need a relations boost, you need a relations boost.

Just a heads up on this. You also build "trust" for engaging in peaceful activities with another empire. While favourable trade positive attitude does degrade with time, it leaves behind "trust" positive attitude.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Wed Nov 09, 2016 7:32 pm

GreenGoo wrote:
NickAragua wrote: You can get an attitude boost by giving a race a 'favorable trade', meaning the acceptance rating is much higher than 1. This decays over time, and you're stuck in a crappy deal, but if you need a relations boost, you need a relations boost.
Just a heads up on this. You also build "trust" for engaging in peaceful activities with another empire. While favourable trade positive attitude does degrade with time, it leaves behind "trust" positive attitude.

That's a good point, I'd forgotten about that.

All in all, diplomacy in Stellaris is a long, slow burn.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Wed Nov 09, 2016 8:06 pm

Diplomacy in Stellaris, while seeming complex and interesting, is actually pretty crappy in my experience. And since it's crappy, I'm starting to wish the game would just let me roll over my neighbours instead of going to war over 2, maybe 3 planets, winning which results in peace for a set period of time, only to have to declare war over another 2 or 3 planets again.

I actually really, really like the warscore system. I just don't like that more complex relationships don't develop in diplomacy which would take advantage of the warscore system.

The ethos system and positive/negative relationship modifiers based on how similar/different two empires ethos are is pretty interesting.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Wed Nov 09, 2016 8:34 pm

NickAragua wrote:
ChuckB wrote:One other point: I'm generally trying to stay out of trouble with the AI (especially neighbors) but the issue I have is that I'm not sure how to even improve relations (many AIs start with negative opinions). They do not seem to accept trades and I don't want to simply gift stuff - are there any other (active) options i have to live in peace with them for a while (and, ideally, prevent them from making my life harder by settling too close?)
For starters, you want to mouse over the 'attitude' rating to get details on what's causing the attitude.
There's always a -20 'first contact' penalty that decays over time.
Some races are 'fanatical purifiers'. Those are hopeless so you can go ahead and rival them and grind them into dust without any regrets.
You can get an attitude boost by giving a race a 'favorable trade', meaning the acceptance rating is much higher than 1. This decays over time, and you're stuck in a crappy deal, but if you need a relations boost, you need a relations boost.
You can also get an attitude boost by 'guarantee independence', which will increase trust over time (trust improves attitude somewhat), at the cost of influence.
Find out what rivals they have and make rivals with those guys. "Shared Rivals" is a good attitude boost.
Be stronger militarily. Everybody wants to suck up to their big bad neighbor.

If you want to block alien expansion into territories you want, put up a frontier outpost. It can get expensive in terms of influence, but if you really want to stake out that chunk of space, you have that option. Just remember to take the outpost down if you put a colony in the same system.

How do you take an outpost down? I'm having trouble finding mine.

Montag · Post by **Montag** » Wed Nov 09, 2016 8:45 pm

Pyperkub wrote:
How do you take an outpost down? I'm having trouble finding mine.

I think it's right click on it and dismantle.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Wed Nov 09, 2016 9:07 pm

Pyperkub wrote:
NickAragua wrote:
ChuckB wrote:One other point: I'm generally trying to stay out of trouble with the AI (especially neighbors) but the issue I have is that I'm not sure how to even improve relations (many AIs start with negative opinions). They do not seem to accept trades and I don't want to simply gift stuff - are there any other (active) options i have to live in peace with them for a while (and, ideally, prevent them from making my life harder by settling too close?)
For starters, you want to mouse over the 'attitude' rating to get details on what's causing the attitude.
There's always a -20 'first contact' penalty that decays over time.
Some races are 'fanatical purifiers'. Those are hopeless so you can go ahead and rival them and grind them into dust without any regrets.
You can get an attitude boost by giving a race a 'favorable trade', meaning the acceptance rating is much higher than 1. This decays over time, and you're stuck in a crappy deal, but if you need a relations boost, you need a relations boost.
You can also get an attitude boost by 'guarantee independence', which will increase trust over time (trust improves attitude somewhat), at the cost of influence.
Find out what rivals they have and make rivals with those guys. "Shared Rivals" is a good attitude boost.
Be stronger militarily. Everybody wants to suck up to their big bad neighbor.

If you want to block alien expansion into territories you want, put up a frontier outpost. It can get expensive in terms of influence, but if you really want to stake out that chunk of space, you have that option. Just remember to take the outpost down if you put a colony in the same system.
How do you take an outpost down? I'm having trouble finding mine.

It's always in orbit around the star. I usually just band-select it and hit the icon that looks like a red x next to a ship. That'll bring up a 'disband' dialog. Click yes and you're good to go.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Wed Nov 09, 2016 10:20 pm

select it (band click-drag, left click, whatever) and one of the X's in the upper right corner is the disband button. Just hover over it and it will tell you. The other X just deselects the station.

ChuckB · Post by **ChuckB** » Thu Nov 10, 2016 9:10 pm

Ok, I have a pretty good game going on now. Got some ok to good planets colonized and created a nice uninterrupted area of mine with some strategically placed frontier outposts. My closest neighbor was able to cut into my area a bit but I surrounded his one star-system but I assume it's self-sustained and will not go away by itself. Of course, my relationship with this AI (and the other closest neighbor) is not that peachy but while they are "hostile" towards me nothing has happened yet (probably also due to the fact that all my systems are well-guarded by high-level spaceports and my navy is doing well. The only issue is that I'm running out of colonizable planets (actually, any planets)
Another neighbor of mine is a "stagnant empire" (or whatever it's called) that is pretty friendly (with a religious undertone) but I made a severe mistake when I tried to race my first neighbor to a nice corner of the galaxy and colonized what appeared to be a "holy site" of the empire. Their 32k fleet entered one of my star system (my whole nave is around 2k) and pulverized one of my starport with the first shot. I surrendered quickly ...

Regarding fleet: I'm reading different things about what to build. My instinct is to build a balanced fleet (such as 1:5:15 ratio between cruisers, destroyers, and corvettes) but then I read that some only build corvette fleets (which seems to die pretty quickly for me). Any advice? (I'm using missiles and shields so far)

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Thu Nov 10, 2016 10:43 pm

ChuckB wrote:Regarding fleet: I'm reading different things about what to build. My instinct is to build a balanced fleet (such as 1:5:15 ratio between cruisers, destroyers, and corvettes) but then I read that some only build corvette fleets (which seems to die pretty quickly for me). Any advice? (I'm using missiles and shields so far)

Well, for starters, don't use missiles. Anecdotally, I've beaten the bejeesus out of missile fleets with 1.5x the fire power of mine. It also seems to be the consensus on the Stellaris forums. Other than that, a ratio is a pretty good idea.

ChuckB · Post by **ChuckB** » Fri Nov 11, 2016 12:23 am

NickAragua wrote:
ChuckB wrote:Regarding fleet: I'm reading different things about what to build. My instinct is to build a balanced fleet (such as 1:5:15 ratio between cruisers, destroyers, and corvettes) but then I read that some only build corvette fleets (which seems to die pretty quickly for me). Any advice? (I'm using missiles and shields so far)
Well, for starters, don't use missiles. Anecdotally, I've beaten the bejeesus out of missile fleets with 1.5x the fire power of mine. It also seems to be the consensus on the Stellaris forums. Other than that, a ratio is a pretty good idea.

Mmh, looks like my people didn't get that memo. I'll read up on lasers and guns then (or are there any other options?)

BTW, I really like the research system. Never have been a fan of the research trees, which feel very much like on rails. Here, I actually read the descriptions and think about my next steps

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Fri Nov 11, 2016 12:24 am

Corvettes are still very strong and probably the most cost effective due to their "dodge" skill (whatever it's called). There are more tools to deal with small, fast ships in the game now, but you have to design and build for that defense, and so far I haven't seen much sign of that from the AI. A good AI will adapt its fleet to your fleet so maybe I just haven't fought enough since the last patch to see the AI evolve its fleet.

That said, I do pretty much what you suggested. Pyramid the fleet via ratios.

Missiles are decent to start, but it doesn't take long before beams/bullets are wrecking half your fleet while your first salvo of missiles/torpedos are still in flight. Plus, missiles/torpedos can be shot down. Still, missiles are an option against a fleet of dodgy small ships due to their accuracy.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Fri Nov 11, 2016 12:28 am

ChuckB wrote:
Mmh, looks like my people didn't get that memo. I'll read up on lasers and guns then (or are there any other options?)

BTW, I really like the research system. Never have been a fan of the research trees, which feel very much like on rails. Here, I actually read the descriptions and think about my next steps

If you don't like your starting weapons, there is nothing stopping you from researching the others. There *may* be a tech tree bias towards your starting weapons, but if so, it's not much and the other weapon types are often available for researching.

The research tree is very interesting, although it's randomized nature can be pretty frustrating at times. Of course that's a feature, not a bug.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Fri Nov 11, 2016 12:29 pm

Ok, I give up. Trying to play anything but a warmongering race results in long periods of incredibly boring waiting around for stuff to happen. I look around for what to do and...nothing. Research is researching. Build queues are building. Leaders are governing. Science vessels are science vesseling.

Wait, wait, wait. Tech! +10% navy capacity. Great. Pick new tech. Maybe build more ships to max out navy. Maybe. I'm not actually going to fight anyone unless they attack me. Wait wait wait. Add buildings to biuld queue. Wait wait wait.

And I'm recently playing a hyperlane builder race. Which means the moment another empire's border cuts off a lane, I'm stuck in my own territory. I can try to open up borders diplomatically, but that involves giving away way too much stuff. Particularly if the empire is significantly different, ethos wise, to my own. And then I have to do it again on the other side of my empire. And maybe on a third side. Giving away the advantages I worked hard for just to be able to move around isn't much fun. I realize it's supposed to be "harder" or at least more complicated than standard travel, it's just not much fun, for me at least. I don't think I'm ever going to try hyperlanes again. This is the second time I've played a significant amount of time with hyperlanes, and it has ended badly in frustration for me both times.

My next race is going to be some sort of fanatical galaxy cleanser. Screw everyone else. Ascendancies, I'm coming for you too.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Fri Nov 18, 2016 1:45 am

Just got my clock cleaned by an awakened fallen empire. They'd always been pissy about me encroaching on their territories, and even started two wars in a row with me (I refused to abandon ten or so colonies), but, every time, their only war goal was 'humiliation'. So, they'd start the war, I'd surrender as soon as I saw their 60k fleet ball and that's that. I got to keep my planets. Sure, the -influence and -happiness hurt a bit, but small price to pay really.

Then the jackasses woke up. Just to see how it'd go, I refused the offer to become their thrall. They declared war, for keeps, as they demand I hand over more or less all my worlds. So, I get my fleet together, the federation buddies show up too, and between all of us we've got about 40k fleet power vs the known 60k fleet ball. So, I blow up some of their mining stations to provoke them and then the 60k fleet ball shows up. Followed by another two 40k fleets. gg, lol. My max fleet size is about 24k and that's having built level 6 space ports over about 16 more or less full pop colonies. So, I won't be winning that war.

I'm thinking I reload and go Thrall. It sucks to lose my federation (I had a whopping three members, each with three or four vassals/protectorates) and the 25% income penalty hurts, but better that than get squashed under foot.

Buatha · Post by **Buatha** » Tue Dec 06, 2016 11:03 am

Just an FYI, the new Stellaris update is now available.

Horizon Signal

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Tue Dec 06, 2016 11:10 am

Right now, I'm elbow deep in a round of Civ 5, I'll think about going back after I'm done.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Tue Dec 06, 2016 11:13 am

NickAragua wrote:Right now, I'm elbow deep in a round of Civ 5, I'll think about going back after I'm done.

I have a line up of "get back to it" games on my desktop, Clockwork Empires, Stellaris, and Oriental Empires all reside there waiting for me to break from Civ VI while still having the itch to play a video game. Though I must admit, I'll probably want something different when I step back from Civ VI.