Anyone playing banks without utopia? Thoughts?

[Pete0714]

Since I could only buy one dlc today, I chose mandate. Just wanted to know if anyone is playing with only the new patch and no dlc, and what they thought about it. I plan on buying the dlc soon but wanted to know how you think things are with just the patch.

 

[nrader]

Good, actually. While i do beelive that without utopia some Ethics are underperforming (i.e. whats the point in materialism if you cant pick mechanist and so, robot maintenance bonus will not work for long period of time; or the F. xenophobe which is worse then F.Militarist+basic xenophobe unless you pick the purifiers which you cant since you have no Utopia) the imporovements to game mechanics is nice overall.
Missiles still suck, but not that much, i'd say they on par with lasers, though kinetics is still better.
And the fact that planet blockade not giving any warcsore is quite a change - now you really have a reason to look at army-related bonuses.

 

[thirawin]

Its certainly a improvement even without the dlc, what i like the most is the new faction system, you actually try to please certain faction because they will give you influence bonus.
Global food is nice but it is a little to easy atm i currenty have 9 planets and 100+ extra food,
I agree with nrader that some ethics are not really good without the dlc.
The unity system is a nice way to give you some more choice at the beginning.

 

[Lord Tareq]

Good at first glance, the faction system seems nice. Only annoyance I ran into was not being able to enslave individual pops anymore. I only have the option to enslave the entire species.

 

[Malonex]

I like it, getting utopia tomorrow but for now booted up a game with fanatic militaristic and egalitarian and spawned next to 3 f.authoritarians and my pops made a faction encouraging militarism and rivalries, and larger borders. It's cool, like they're paranoid and want to have a buffer between themselves and the potential enemies. Gives me more of a feel that I'm just the ruler of the empire trying to please the citizens instead of whatever you could describe it as before.

 

[Pete0714]

Thanks. Sounds good for now, at least until I can justify spending another chunk on the dlc.