Dear Stellaris Devs,
You will probably never read this, so I ‘m 99% sure that I am wasting my time, even if you did read it I am still doubtful that it would have any influence since the vocal minority effect on these forums tend to be in full swing. But on the off chance that I have the slightest influence allow me to give you my opinion.
I have been playing Stellaris since it’s launch and I never stopped. But and there is always a but, in all that time I have seen a very sad trend within the dev cycle.
To best illustrate this let me just give an example.
The very first game I started was in a large galaxy, as an authoritarian empire. Within very little time I encountered and empire who was very friendly towards me, But I saw that in the middle of their space there was a primitive civilization which despite their position it was not within their space but only surrounded by it. So I sent some troops and landed on the primitive world and took that system and few around it for myself.
This led to my first war in which despite being militarily superior I barley scratched out a peace deal due to the fact that their fleets were much faster and whatever conquest I managed they would simply send in their fleet and take it immediately back. It was frustrating but fair, I could do that if I wanted.
Let us just see how such a scenario would play out in a current game, they would have a primitive planet in the middle of their space but not within their space. I would have to first build a station in that system(for some reason because troops can’t land unless there is a station in the middle of the system and it is controlled by me. I don’t know why but for some reason that is the case).
Then let’s say the war would start. I am militarily superior I go into their territory I conquer some space and they take it back… oh no that’s not the case, we have hyper lanes now they can’t just jump into a system from any other system … oh, they could go around and lose time to reconquer a system whilst I take 5 others but 1 for 5 seems to be in my favor. And then If I go back I could just chase them away or destroy them if they decided to face me. And they can’t just run anywhere because they have to follow the lanes, they you have to do in real space too.
Obviously my sarcasm will not be to many’s liking but it is to show a small problem. Or a big one if you are one of my many personalities. That is the lack of choice. Now I understand what the devs were trying to do. I just think they failed in that regard and made the game into something that it could have been before, as you had the option to only leave in hyper lanes, but very few made that choice.
Now without beating around the bush(anymore) let me just come out and say what I no longer like about Stellaris (I am not saying that it is a bad game. It certainly is not):
As the philosopher Forrest G once said “And that’s all I have to say about that”, I doubt any of these issues will be addressed but I would be remiss if I did not say them. I guess the problem is that the devs have this fewer is better mentality, as if don’t give the players choices they could hurt themselves. Yes hurt me daddy devs, punish me that is what I want.
You will probably never read this, so I ‘m 99% sure that I am wasting my time, even if you did read it I am still doubtful that it would have any influence since the vocal minority effect on these forums tend to be in full swing. But on the off chance that I have the slightest influence allow me to give you my opinion.
I have been playing Stellaris since it’s launch and I never stopped. But and there is always a but, in all that time I have seen a very sad trend within the dev cycle.
To best illustrate this let me just give an example.
The very first game I started was in a large galaxy, as an authoritarian empire. Within very little time I encountered and empire who was very friendly towards me, But I saw that in the middle of their space there was a primitive civilization which despite their position it was not within their space but only surrounded by it. So I sent some troops and landed on the primitive world and took that system and few around it for myself.
This led to my first war in which despite being militarily superior I barley scratched out a peace deal due to the fact that their fleets were much faster and whatever conquest I managed they would simply send in their fleet and take it immediately back. It was frustrating but fair, I could do that if I wanted.
Let us just see how such a scenario would play out in a current game, they would have a primitive planet in the middle of their space but not within their space. I would have to first build a station in that system(for some reason because troops can’t land unless there is a station in the middle of the system and it is controlled by me. I don’t know why but for some reason that is the case).
Then let’s say the war would start. I am militarily superior I go into their territory I conquer some space and they take it back… oh no that’s not the case, we have hyper lanes now they can’t just jump into a system from any other system … oh, they could go around and lose time to reconquer a system whilst I take 5 others but 1 for 5 seems to be in my favor. And then If I go back I could just chase them away or destroy them if they decided to face me. And they can’t just run anywhere because they have to follow the lanes, they you have to do in real space too.
Obviously my sarcasm will not be to many’s liking but it is to show a small problem. Or a big one if you are one of my many personalities. That is the lack of choice. Now I understand what the devs were trying to do. I just think they failed in that regard and made the game into something that it could have been before, as you had the option to only leave in hyper lanes, but very few made that choice.
Now without beating around the bush(anymore) let me just come out and say what I no longer like about Stellaris (I am not saying that it is a bad game. It certainly is not):
- The traveling system, besides the above discussed limitations, there is also the issue of choke points (in space, sure if you say so) the hyper lane system just leads to fortifications and static warfare. This is exasperated when for example your empire goes along some very long hyper lane routs. When a superior empire can just go down the conquest tracks and destroy you. Previously you could jump behind their navy and just take back what they took, now you just have no choice. Of course this could be mitigated by just building star bases in every system. I believe you can tell what the problem is here. Every empire would do this and by the mid to late game taking a system would be a nightmare. Whilst without the hyper lanes you could just focus on the populated systems. But of course this was realized which is why there is a limit on star bases, thus fixing a self generated problem by putting in further limitations.
- Star bases, now despite my previous point I do have to say that I am not opposed to the star base system. I just think it should be an option not an obligatory mechanic. You could use those to claim systems that are far from your borders. With the previous territory system that was not an option. What I don’t like is that you have to have them around the star. Why, why can’t I have them next to the gateway in that system. Isn’t that more logical! Or a very particular scenario, I have noticed the Khan fleets are weak to strike craft, thus I always focus my stations on strike craft. Why can’t I have 3 star bases on separate sides of the system thus making the khan himself when he enters that system. Because artificial limitations. But how can you claim a place where you have never been? Good question I shall ask Brazil that. How can it claim a large part of the Amazon when it has never been to it. I mean if they built a start base in every part of the Amazon maybe but otherwise that is not going to work. They can’t claim those parts they have never been to.
- The sector system, oh sweet summer child, yes I am going to talk about that because the vocal minority did us all a disfavor at that. Now the criticism was always that the sector AI was stupid and fair enough it was but so was the enemy AI and yet far fewer people complained about that than about the sectors. Now let me state why I liked the previous sector systems, I had the choice of what the sector looks like. Now the sectors look like a child’s first attempt at a city simulator. Not to mention that there has not been a single play-through in which I don’t have at least 4 single planet sectors next to a 5 planet sector. Why can’t I just have 2 sectors with 3 planets each. Because we said so. The sector planet hast to be in the middle of the sector. Why? Because we said so that is why! There are many countries in the world and many more provinces where the capital is not right smack in the center of that country (I miss history wizz). What do sectors do? Well I know what they used to do, manage their territory so you don’t have to. In the past they would even build mining and energy stations in systems. Now you have to do all of that. That is like the president of the US having to personally state where every bakery, shop and wallmart has to be in every town and city in the united state. There are levels to the government for a reason. Now all that sectors do (If you allow them to and if you are kind enough to give them resources to do that), is to build things on planets. Yeah, that is like my home town not being allowed to raise their own tax revenue and not being allowed to build anything unless the president gives them permission beforehand. I dare say that would never end well … for the president I mean.
- Planets, this I have to admit is a bit of a nit pick, but not necessarily an invalid one. Look I get it, you wanted to put in all the sci tropes and that is fine. It is just that that is not how planets work. Earth is not a desert planet nor an Ice planet nor a tropical planet nor an ocean planet it is just a planet and it has all of those biomes. Here is how planets, specifically planets with life on them work. The amount of life on a planet is limited by the least available resource that is needed for life. Usually that refers to two things energy and water. The more you have of both the more life you get. In the dessert (you can’t remember your name) you have plenty of energy but very little water thus very little life. In Antarctica you have plenty of water but very little energy thus very little life. The amazon has plenty of both thus plenty of life. And planets could simple vary along these continues scales of energy and water. Some of them could of course end up as ice or desert but not all of them would be as icy or as deserty and it would not be such a distinct set of categories but rather a spectrum. And each planet would fall some where on the energy and water spectrum. The problem with the current system is not only the fact that there are these distinct and very artificial categories but also that for some reason on a desert planet of size 10 I can have just as many people as on a jungle planet of size 10. Really? So the lack of water isn’t an issue? I guess that would explain why there are these sprawling metropolises in the Sahara and Antarctica. The energy and the water spectrum should dictate the amount of pops that can live on a planet not just planet big population big planet small population small.
- Battles, oh boy, now I hate myself for even saying this but it is true. The battles suck. And they suck not because they are particularly bad but because I’ve seen much better from much smaller development studios. As an example please look at Sins of a Solar Empire (Yes the name is silly), battles were actual battles that took place in space, on all 3 axes of space not on an imaginary plane in space. Ships rotated on all axis because an enemy could be anywhere, (above, below, right … you get it). And your ships could be ordered away if you though they did not have a chance. They did not have to do an “Emergency Jump” … of wait a minute so they still have the warp drive but only in an EMERGENCY. I believe you see the inconsistency here. In Stellaris if I engage an enemy fleet either I win they win or I do an EMERGENCY jump or they do it. Ok … why can’t I just order my fleets away? Because we said so! This wasn’t a get out of jail free card. In the above mentioned game when you ordered your fleet away you were still loosing ships. Because the enemy was not so stupid as to let you leave when they knew you were taking a beating, but you could leave and you could outrun him if your ships were faster. Nope let’s not do that.
As the philosopher Forrest G once said “And that’s all I have to say about that”, I doubt any of these issues will be addressed but I would be remiss if I did not say them. I guess the problem is that the devs have this fewer is better mentality, as if don’t give the players choices they could hurt themselves. Yes hurt me daddy devs, punish me that is what I want.
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