Are there going to be a giant space monsters?

[Eldoran]

Since the devs draw inspiration from typical sci-fi ala star trek and sci-fantasy ala Warham merits 40k it's not too unlikely that maybe they also take inspiration from lovecraft and the old ones would make great space monsters with rich lore to draw from...so my guess is maybe ^^ maybe as endgame disaster

 

[TheFragPrince]

Although it is debatable how much of a simulation Stellaris is (IMO, it hinges way more on the game element than the simulation one). I agree with player decision on this matter. In the end, the "Space Monsters" element of the game, were it to exist, would not hold much importance. This game wants to portray the rise&fall of spacefaring empires, not its struggle against space behemoths.

I hold strong in my belief that if these were to be a thing in Stellaris, they would be very much akin to their Distant Worlds counterparts: Early game bosses.

Agree to all of the above. And I wasn't saying Stellaris IS a simulation, only that it comprises elements of both game and simulation.

But it also dawned on me shortly after signing out earlier that space monsters really aren't needed to fulfill the purpose they may have had in MoO1 and 2, and other similar games, as EntropyAvatar rightly points out above. There are plenty of other ways to design credible strong adversaries for any point in the game.

And, again I agree with EntropyAvatar: with the Ancients (or whatever one wants to call them) having been around, the galaxy is like a box of chocolate.

 

[EntropyAvatar]

Thinking about the gameplay role of things like space monsters, I've been thinking of them as mostly a blocker - you can't colonize the system until you somehow deal with the menace there. Though some monster-like menaces in games can also spread between systems.

I just remembered that if blocker-style menaces are a thing, that will affect the balance of the different FTL types. While warp and wormhole empires can good around a system a system that their ships can't safely enter, a single menace in the wrong spot could temporarily lock out a whole section of the map for a hyperdrive empire. I remember in SotS that I would sometimes have to desperately sneak colony vessels past asteroid monitors to get to the sweet, sweet planet on the other side.

 

[D Inqu]

SOTS1 had a large number of defferent "space monsters", from minor nuisances like a semi active alien derelict to major galaxy-affecting ones like a system killer.

 

[Fireplay]

For me space monsters feel more like fantasy than sci-fi. It's always giant worms, giant lobsters, etc which feels silly. If someone can offer a compelling example of space monsters that doesn't feel like fantasy, I'm all ears - but highly skeptical.

First thought was something like the Thresher Maws from ME but those aren't space-faring in the sense of being dangerous in space.

 

[desiriel]

Does the Doomsday Machine from ST:TOS qualify as a "space monster" ? For me, it does.

 

[TheFragPrince]

I just reread a preview by the German magazine gamestar, summarizing some of the game's features as apparently encountered by one of the editors who got a chance to play it at Gamescom. He states (http://www.gamestar.de/spiele/stellaris-/artikel/stellaris,52692,3234846,2.html):

"Zudem warten im All natürlich die üblichen Monster, etwa interstellare Riesenquallen." Translates to: "In addition, the usual monsters, e.g. interstellar giant squids, are waiting in space"; see 7th bullet point on "Phase 1: Erkundung und nicht-lineare Forschung" (Phase 1: Reconnnaissance and non-linear research), page 2 of article.

Guess I had forgotten I read that some time ago.

 

[TheCrimsonMajor]

I like the idea, maybe as an event? For example, your science ship encounters a space-faring creature, and you have options for how to respond. I don't see it working as a unit in game though...

 

[beckermt]

Does the Doomsday Machine from ST:TOS qualify as a "space monster" ? For me, it does.

I don't think a spacefaring civilization will have too much trouble with a crumpled tube of paper painted orange on one end.

 

[beckermt]

systematically consuming all other biomatter to enable its own rapid evolution and reproduction."

I never understood why the tyranids would leave a world barren. Wouldn't it make more sense to turn each planet into a hostile (for non-tyranids) biosphere that would constantly produce harvestable biomatter, i.e. food, for the hive fleet? It's already established that the hive fleet is a long trailing tendril from beyond the galaxy, meaning they have a supply train.

I just reread a preview by the German magazine gamestar, summarizing some of the game's features as apparently encountered by one of the editors who got a chance to play it at Gamescom. He states (http://www.gamestar.de/spiele/stellaris-/artikel/stellaris,52692,3234846,2.html):

"Zudem warten im All natürlich die üblichen Monster, etwa interstellare Riesenquallen." Translates to: "In addition, the usual monsters, e.g. interstellar giant squids, are waiting in space"; see 7th bullet point on "Phase 1: Erkundung und nicht-lineare Forschung" (Phase 1: Reconnnaissance and non-linear research), page 2 of article.

Guess I had forgotten I read that some time ago.

Heck yes, space monsters. So pumped. TO BECOME THE SPACE MONSTERS.

I can't really come up with a plausible evolutionary history for a biological organism that flies around in space, messing up inhabited planets.

Yeah, but who the heck would have thought up platypi or dodos or extremophile bacteria until we actually found them? Our limited understanding of exotic biologies doesn't mean it's not unreasonable.

Consider the following. A biological hivemind race rules a planet, but to ensure its survival, it wishes to expand. It proceeds to develop biological flight (already exists) and eventually spaceflight.

Consider the alternative, the atmosphere of a planet, upon which such a hivemind exists, is ripped away. Either the hivemind was prepared for this eventuality or it survived long enough to use direct evolution to adapt to its new conditions.

And lastly, even if the large bioforms aren't totally compatible with space, you can certainly make a large biological ship in which less space-tolerant substrains could survive.

Or maybe a planet with a super weak atmosphere gets broken up and the (now) spacewhales that lived there are sort of fine with that.

So many ideas! Giant photosynthetic space vines that float about asteroids!

 

[AKicebear]

Yeah, but who the heck would have thought up platypi or dodos or extremophile bacteria until we actually found them? Our limited understanding of exotic biologies doesn't mean it's not unreasonable.

Consider the following. A biological hivemind race rules a planet, but to ensure its survival, it wishes to expand. It proceeds to develop biological flight (already exists) and eventually spaceflight.

Consider the alternative, the atmosphere of a planet, upon which such a hivemind exists, is ripped away. Either the hivemind was prepared for this eventuality or it survived long enough to use direct evolution to adapt to its new conditions.

And lastly, even if the large bioforms aren't totally compatible with space, you can certainly make a large biological ship in which less space-tolerant substrains could survive.

Or maybe a planet with a super weak atmosphere gets broken up and the (now) spacewhales that lived there are sort of fine with that.

So many ideas! Giant photosynthetic space vines that float about asteroids!

Platypi and dodos are weird but hardly on the scale of planet-size, space faring creatures.

Everything else you described starts to veer down the path of science fantasy. The earlier examples with a hivemind are more palatable, although isn't that really just bionics on a exoskeleton ship? That doesn't really qualify as a space monster to me...

Ultimately I think this boils down to how "hard" one likes their sci-fi. I think the game can be plenty fun/engaging/disruptive-from-start-to-finish without introducing some fantasical monsters.

If included, I hope they are at least very sparse and well thought out in terms of gameplay and lore, rather than just being the Stellaris-edition of an RNG "coment flew by and wrecked everything".

 

[Dunbal]

Of course there's going to be giant space monsters. Every self respecting space game has them.

So long as there's a check box so that you can turn them off...

 

[Rhel]

Since they seem to kind of want to make this game "Every Sci Fi Universe. The Game." I'd be pretty surprised if there wasn't something like that.

 

[blizz]

distant worlds and sots had interesting "space monsters" though most could be easily defeated some like silver mist in DW unless you knew what to do could be problematic, especially for ai to handle. though it would be interesting to have some sort of space monster horde event like zerg/tyranid invasion mid/late game

 

[Alexander Seil]

We have the Drow and Warp demons already, why wouldn't there be space squid?

The reason they were stupid in MoO was that the game had no way for you to interact with them, except fighting. Paradox could get pretty clever with them using events and special project mechanics.

 

[Highlordelliot]

Like many of the interesting features people talk about in the forums I would like for this to have an on/off switch when starting up the game.
Might make politics interesting when a monster or several rampages across space do you team up to stop it before it gets out of control do you let it rampage and weaken your enemies or just try and direct it away from your space.

 

[CptWilly]

I wouldn't mind if one of many possible major end game crises envolved having to combat invasion by a giant all-powerful space monster.

It is our fault, after all. Our universe dresses provocatively.

 

[Jess135]

I feel like this would be a good subject for one of the inevitable dlcs.

 

[Safehold]

I don't think it should be in as part of the combat mechanics, but as events I'm sure they can fit stuff like that in. In CK2, a character could become a "Godslayer".

 

[AndreasPhokas]

Be good as an early game boss but I also wouldn't mind that being one of the endgame disasters(space cthulu?). I guess we'll see, paradox can be as creative as they want and we do have modders.

I'm pretty sure a warhammer 40k,star wars,star trek,potentially mass effect mods will appear soon after(along with a rogue space yamato)