Things from Nexus 5x that would be cool to see in actual Stellaris

[MadDemiurg]

1. Espionage actually being useful

Causing entire planets to rebel, stealing fleets, leeching resources etc. At a reasonable cost. Right now the only operation that's worth it is steal tech and you can do it once in a blue moon. Some enhanced counter ops options will probably be needed to balance this.

2. Boarding ships and planetary guns

Planets being able to shoot back at fleets, even if with a weak attack, make fortress worlds more than a temporary roadblock. Likewise, boarding ship designs that scale in effectiveness with your troop strength will make all the army bonuses a lot more meaningful. These do not have to be super effective but having a niche use case for these when you have really strong ground armies would be fun. I see them mostly as a cheaper early-mid game option that would cost less alloys (cause no need for all these fancy weapon components) but can still be effective when massed if you have a lot of bonuses to army damage and/or health.

 

[Cleaving3]

1. Espionage actually being useful

Ooo BURN!
So true though

 

[cryptkeeper]

1. Espionage actually being useful

Causing entire planets to rebel, stealing fleets, leeching resources etc. At a reasonable cost. Right now the only operation that's worth it is steal tech and you can do it once in a blue moon. Some enhanced counter ops options will probably be needed to balance this.

As long these Espionage actions have steps, and are counterable. As well as have lock out periods. You don't want espionage that allows some one to take a planet just by completing a mission. In a quick game like 5nexus you don't have as much blow back from uncounterable actions, because you can respond and recover quicker. Losses are just easier to deal with in 5nexus.

 

[Nakkivene]

2. Boarding ships and planetary guns

Yes. And ramming please.

 

[Mech_infect]

Espionage is the most painful thing in the game now (Okay micro-hell too)

 

[rubert]

Nexus what?

 

[Abdulijubjub]

Yes. And ramming please.

X slot battering rams incoming.

 

[Molikroth]

Nexus what?

Nexus 5X on Steam

eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate, EXPRESS. All of the depth, diplomacy, conflict and conquest of a turn-based 4X epic but played in fast-paced 60-minute competitive sessions. Play Solo or Multiplayer for 2-8 players.

store.steampowered.com

It's basically a virtual board game using Stellaris assets. It was somewhat recently renamed, previously being called Stellaris Nexus.

 

[rubert]

Interesting, that seems to have sailed past me. Is there any relation to that mobile game thing from while back?

I could see shorter games being fun from time to time.

 

[Molikroth]

Interesting, that seems to have sailed past me. Is there any relation to that mobile game thing from while back?

I could see shorter games being fun from time to time.

No that's Stellaris Galaxy Command

 

[Gaspi2]

Yes. And ramming please.

 

[Abdulijubjub]

Except not like that, because that entirely invalidated every space battle that was ever fought in that franchise. If a hyperdrive can instantly destroy a capital ship (and wipe out half the ships behind it with the collateral), then everything should have been fought with hyperdrive missiles from thousands of miles away instead of knife fight range with proton torpedos and lasers.

It was like watching a movie set in medieval Europe, where the writers thought it would be so cool to have the protagonist pull out an AK-47 they had in their saddlebags the entire time and gun down the opposing army at a climactic moment. And then never mention it again, and go back to fighting with swords, pikes, and crossbows afterward.

 

[Nakkivene]

Except not like that, because that entirely invalidated every space battle that was ever fought in that franchise.

But it was so emotional because this character we don't know or care about sacrifices herself

I wonder if the normal Stellaris engines and afterburners are sublight engines?

 

[Shark7]

Espionage is the most painful thing in the game now (Okay micro-hell too)

Espionage simply isn't worth the time or trouble as it stands. I have much better things to use envoys for. And even if you do decide to try to play the espionage aspect of the game, the return for effort put into it is absolutely not worth it.

Espionage needs to be beefed up. At least make it where it is a viable strategy for pacifist type empires to utilize. I can understand if it's not a strong aspect for a conquering horde like my empires, but it does need to have some teeth as well for other less aggressive playstyles.

 

[Ikael]

I have argued in the past for shooting planets to be a thing, so ground combat can become relevant, but the game is moving in the complete opposite direction, that is, towards eliminating or subsuming ground combat into the background entirely. So nope, boarding actions are not happening either.

Espionage, on the other hand, has a good chance of getting revisited at some point, I think. Even if you buy the whole "there has never been any good Player vs Player espionage system ever in the story of strategy games", there is still a big vacant design space regarding interaction with non-player factions and internal politics.

 

[Mech_infect]

Espionage simply isn't worth the time or trouble as it stands. I have much better things to use envoys for. And even if you do decide to try to play the espionage aspect of the game, the return for effort put into it is absolutely not worth it.

Espionage needs to be beefed up. At least make it where it is a viable strategy for pacifist type empires to utilize. I can understand if it's not a strong aspect for a conquering horde like my empires, but it does need to have some teeth as well for other less aggressive playstyles.

A lot of people agree with you. But unfortunately, some important and radical corrections (even necessary ones) are definitely not being made for espionage.... how long has it been since the advent of espionage and the understanding that everything is bad with it (there is a legion of opinions regarding this)? For me, that's A LOT OF TIME.

Too much for such unfinished mechanics to exist (seriously, at least new operations or adding special operations for each ethics / some civics and origins).

I don’t understand why the developers haven’t touched their hands yet, but I hope the next free balance patch will do it (at least give me a hint if this is the case and you’re reading this)

 

[Abdulijubjub]

I wonder if the normal Stellaris engines and afterburners are sublight engines?

It's all sublight unless you're jumping or going through a hyperlane.

 

[InvisibleBison]

Boarding ships and planetary guns

I'm opposed to boarding for both verisimilitude and gameplay reasons. From a verisimilitude perspective, it's trivially easy to make a ship that cannot be successfully boarded, and any method used to get boarders on board a ship could also be used to get bombs on board the ship, which would be far more effective at taking it out of the fight. From a gameplay perspective, ship boarding is a snowball mechanic that rewards the winner for winning and if not well balanced could leave your fleets stronger after the battle than before it.

Planetary guns can work, if they're implemented as combat units that engage in battles with fleets using the standard combat mechanics. If they just apply attritional damage to bombarding fleets, they will serve primarily as sources of tedious micromanagement, as players would be encouraged to keep close watch over their bombarding fleets and send any ships that are close to destruction to the nearest starbase to repair. And since the nearest starbase is often in the same system as the planet being bombarded, this doesn't really expose the player to the risk of defeat in detail.