Stellaris Dev Diary #133 - The Caravaneers

[Snoipah]

Last week you said you'll talk about the slave market today, then you edited the last dev diary and then mentioned you'll talk about it next week.

At least man up and admit the mistake, because now we don't know if you're actually going to talk about the slave market next week or if it's something else and you're yanking our chain, again.

Delays happen, everyone understands that, but not acknowledging said delay is bad form.

 

[Sir Roderick]

1 pop never was 1 billion entities. It's left vague for a reason (make up your own numbers).

It was extrapolated from the fact that in 2200 Earth has 8 pops, and currently Earth has a population around 7 billions, although with the new system that replaces the tile system there seems to be more pops representing the same population.

 

[LeSingeAffame]

Last week you said you'll talk about the slave market today, then you edited the last dev diary and then mentioned you'll talk about it next week.

At least man up and admit the mistake, because now we don't know if you're actually going to talk about the slave market next week or if it's something else and you're yanking our chain, again.

Delays happen, everyone understands that, but not acknowledging said delay is bad form.

Can't you read?

Slave Market was not yet ready to show off, it'll be talked about next week.

And how entitled do you have to be to demand that kind of things?

It was extrapolated from the fact that in 2200 Earth has 8 pops, and currently Earth has a population around 7 billions, although with the new system that replaces the tile system there seems to be more pops representing the same population.

Sure, for humans it could make sense.
But what if your species is composed of trillions of very small individuals? Or, on the other hands, if your individuals were dozens of meters high?
Scaling a pop to a number doesn't work because not every species will have the same scale as humanity

 

[Snoipah]

Can't you read?

And how entitled do you have to be to demand that kind of things?

Please don't implying I am illiterate, that is very rude and toxic. I merely didn't read past the first page.

 

[LeSingeAffame]

Please don't implying I am illiterate, that is very rude and toxic. I merely didn't read past the first page.

So you aren't bothered enough to read past the first page, and yet you complain to not have all the information?

 

[Arkangilos]

Does no one click on "Show dev replies" first to make sure they don't miss any official answers?
And don't go bringing up toxic, you weren't much better.

 

[Minuro]

The problem is the slot machines. It seems strange to me that a state want spend public money in such frivolity and with such high risk. Simply because the minds of individuals do not work that way, I mean: anyone could think, why, instead of spending resources in a machine of chance, does not increase pensions and spending on education and health? In an egalitarian state, going to the caravanners would be a scandal.

Also, the idea of putting casinos as mechanics in a grand strategy game seems to me something that the developers should have rejected with a nervous laugh. Like "Are you kidding?". Space traders make sense, but why make a casino in space? It is an incredibly stupid idea because the accessibility. If you are in space, you are literally away from everyone, so you will have fewer clients. It makes more sense to build casinos on very populated planets and with a large influx of tourists and spaceships.
In this context, the idea of the Senate of a great galactic empire, voting to decide travel to a casino to pull a lever, seems really absurd.

 

[Arkangilos]

The funding for gambling comes out of the diplomacy budget. Or even the research budget.

"Why would they let you gamble?!"
Maybe because it's a trade opportunity. "They have this really advanced tech we don't have. They won't trade it to us flat out but we can win it if we are lucky" seems like a fair thing for me.

 

[Sir Roderick]

Can't you read?

And how entitled do you have to be to demand that kind of things?


Sure, for humans it could make sense.
But what if your species is composed of trillions of very small individuals? Or, on the other hands, if your individuals were dozens of meters high?
Scaling a pop to a number doesn't work because not every species will have the same scale as humanity

It works for humans, and all portraits seem to be at human size, and the only time colonies of small indivuals are referenced is in the description of one preset fungoid empire.
A solution to this problem could be tying the number of individuals per pop by a set of 0 cost genetic traits for RP purposes (such as 1 pop = 100000, 1 pop = 1 billion, 1 pop = 10 billions, etc.), although I seem to remember there were new dlc traits that raised or lessened the amount of housing needed by the size of the species.

 

[grandad1982]

The problem is the slot machines. It seems strange to me that a state want spend public money in such frivolity and with such high risk. Simply because the minds of individuals do not work that way, I mean: anyone could think, why, instead of spending resources in a machine of chance, does not increase pensions and spending on education and health? In an egalitarian state, going to the caravanners would be a scandal.

So here's the thing. If you can't head canon it then don't use the slot machines. I personally can easily imagine plenty of current rulers on Earth who wouldn't bat an eyelid at using public funds for such frivolous ends.

 

[Arkangilos]

Portraits are only human sized because of the perspective. If there was an antman, and I was having a video chat of him he sent me a selfie, on the screen he would still look human sized.

 

[Snoipah]

So you aren't bothered enough to read past the first page, and yet you complain to not have all the information?

Wiz only mentioned the Slave Market delay after numerous people asked about it.

 

[Minuro]

So here's the thing. If you can't head canon it then don't use the slot machines. I personally can easily imagine plenty of current rulers on Earth who wouldn't bat an eyelid at using public funds for such frivolous ends.

And yet, when the people discover it, a crisis happens.

 

[Secret Master]

their coalition base in Chor’s Compass.

Would I be correct in assuming that attacking one of the caravans causes the others to refuse to do business with you?

 

[Arkangilos]

And yet, when the people discover it, a crisis happens.

Name a time a crisis happened? I don't think I've ever seen a crisis from the government doing anything like that.

 

[grandad1982]

And yet, when the people discover it, a crisis happens.

Well in my experience what usually happens is some media kerfuffle then nothing really changes.

 

[Emperica]

All the dev diaries lately have been miniscule!

 

[Minuro]

Name a time a crisis happened? I don't think I've ever seen a crisis from the government doing anything like that.

In my country, Spain. People exploded for the corruption cases in the government.
Can you name a corrupt politician who has spent millions in casinos and then has not undergone political pressure, or even had to resign? Those things happen in a democratic state, and your competitors will use that propaganda to get you out of the power.

 

[Calvax]

Scaling a pop to a number doesn't work because not every species will have the same scale as humanity

It also doesn’t really fit when it comes to colonisation. New colonies have flavour text about prefabs and tents, yet they start with one or two pops which would make them very well populated if a pop is a billion.

 

[Calvax]

In my country, Spain. People exploded for the corruption cases in the government.
Can you name a corrupt politician who has spent millions in casinos and then has not undergone political pressure, or even had to resign? Those things happen in a democratic state, and your competitors will use that propaganda to get you out of the power.

That is very different. In that case politicians are usually gambling with other people’s money and pocketing the winnings. It’s done without a mandate and is clearly theft. In this set up any winnings go straight back into the budget. I don’t find it difficult to believe at all that if there was an advanced alien species offering gambling opportunities to win exotic resources or new technologies that the public wouldn’t approve of a budget for it.

There’s no need to nerf egalitarian empires for this. It would be good if a future update expanded on things like mandates/faction demands and that would give rise to a similar mechanic: if you loose too much money gambling and can’t fufill your obligations people will be pissed. But if you’re fulfilling all that, all major factions are happy and you’re running a healthy surplus who cares if some of that is risked on a deal with an alien race that could be very profitable?