So Ive had Stellaris since shortly after its launch years ago, but i never got far into it. This time though I finally hit that sweet spot where I was able to see a game through all the way to the end.
First let me say I LOVE the new planet system. I held off playing this again until 2.2/Megacorp came out and I haven't been disappointed.
So my initial build was a Corporate empire heavily bonused for Trade Value. My Ethics were Fanatic Xenophile and Egalitarian, Civics were Free Traders and Trading Posts, and my species trait was Thrifty. When I researched Galactic Administration I added Franchising as my third Civic to squeeze more Branch Offices into my Administrative Cap.
With this extra Trade Value I was able to run Consumer Benefits and Militarized Economy. The former eliminates the need for Civilian Industries allowing me to run more Alloy Foundries and Research Labs... at least initially. Plus it seems the Consumer Goods penalty from Militarized Economy doesn't affect those gained through Trade Policy, so yay free 15% Alloy bonus.
My long-term strategy was to keep my direct empire size small to minimize Tech and Tradition costs, and go for Ecumenopolis and Megastructures to generate as much economy, research and unity out of that size as possible. The extra starbases from Trading Posts and the high Alloy income would allow me to support a very large navy compared to my size. I would also form a Federation with people who liked me and turn those that didnt into Subsidiaries. Oh and other Megacorps would be subjugated as well, so even if I can't stop them from beating me to Branch Offices I can at least get a cut of those profits. Lastly I made it a priority to secure the Galactic Market hub to minimize my market fee.
My traditions were Expansion, Prosperity, Diplomacy, Supremacy and Harmony in that order. My Ascension Perks were Technological Ascendancy (needed that tech boost), Mastery of Nature (2 more districts for Ecumenopolis), Arcology Project (for Ecumenopolis), Voidbone (to get Master Builders), Master Builders (for megastructure build speed and MEga-Engineering tech) and Galactic Wonders (for various things).
My immediate sector had 3 other Continental planets, 2 of which were size 23 and one of those had lots of Agriculture districts, so I had an ideal Ecumenopolis candidate and a good Agri-world to support it.
Turns out my next-door neighbor was a Federation Builder, who just so happened to be rivals with THEIR neighbor who didnt like me much. So I declare rivalry with the rival and bam instant Federation. The rival empire would go on to form a Federation with two more MEgacorps, who would in turn rival another empire that would become another of my Federation partners. Meanwhile another of my neighbors was yet another Megacorp that ended up becoming my first Subsidiary.
By mid-game I was looking to create my first Ecumenopolis, which meant saving up 20k Minerals. Now this was rather difficult with such a small empre, but this is where the Branch Offices saved the day. I filled them to capacity with Private Mining Consortiums to generate the Minerals I needed. This allowed me to turn one of the size 23 planets into an Ecumenopolis. Now that I had those Foundry and Leisure Arcologies I was able to phase out my Alloy Foundries and Unity buildings, opening up quite a few building slots for other things.
Late-mid game I did a few more subjugation wars and secured three more Subsidiaries, defeating the Federation of my biggest rival in the process.
Late game saw the awakening of a Fallen Empire. This was quite the oh-crap moment for me, first seeing their 85k power fleet... then seeing they had no less than FIVE of those. I ended up taking a break to formulate a strategy to fight them, and came to the conclusion that with a fleet doctrie to counter theirs and activating every possible bonus I could potentially repel them in a defensive war. Fortunately it never came to that, they focused on the other side of the galaxy and never even made a demand of me. Their awakening did raise the threshold for score victory, though.
In the meantime I was working on my Megastructures. First up was the Matter Decompressor which allowed me to massively expand my alloy industry. Next was the Strategic Coordination Center for the increased naval cap. Then I built the Science Nexus to help me get through the repeatable technologies (I was already working on those). The last one I built was the Dyson Sphere because more money why not.
And then at around year 2460 I got the notification of the Galactic Power Surge, which meant the Unbidden were on their way. Fortunately with my massive fleet which i tailored to counter them, they never got very far. As in they only got as far out as 1 jump from their portal before I kicked them back into their dimension. It definitely helped that the portal opened pretty close to the center of my empire so I was able to respond quickly. The conflict did give me an extra 7k points which secured my victory come year 2500.
So that's that. The crisis is over and Ive got half the galaxy in my pocket, with my empire on par with the awakened fallen empire in power... and they're due to hit their decedance cap any day now (assuming that's still a thign). For now though im quite tired of playing this and i'm willing to just call this a win.
Feel free to share your own opinions and critique my play style.
Relevant information:
-Build: 2.2.3
-Difficulty: Captian
-Galaxy: smallest 2-arm spiral
-AI Empires: as many as would fit
-Fallen Empires: 1
-Crisis Strength: 1x
First let me say I LOVE the new planet system. I held off playing this again until 2.2/Megacorp came out and I haven't been disappointed.
So my initial build was a Corporate empire heavily bonused for Trade Value. My Ethics were Fanatic Xenophile and Egalitarian, Civics were Free Traders and Trading Posts, and my species trait was Thrifty. When I researched Galactic Administration I added Franchising as my third Civic to squeeze more Branch Offices into my Administrative Cap.
With this extra Trade Value I was able to run Consumer Benefits and Militarized Economy. The former eliminates the need for Civilian Industries allowing me to run more Alloy Foundries and Research Labs... at least initially. Plus it seems the Consumer Goods penalty from Militarized Economy doesn't affect those gained through Trade Policy, so yay free 15% Alloy bonus.
My long-term strategy was to keep my direct empire size small to minimize Tech and Tradition costs, and go for Ecumenopolis and Megastructures to generate as much economy, research and unity out of that size as possible. The extra starbases from Trading Posts and the high Alloy income would allow me to support a very large navy compared to my size. I would also form a Federation with people who liked me and turn those that didnt into Subsidiaries. Oh and other Megacorps would be subjugated as well, so even if I can't stop them from beating me to Branch Offices I can at least get a cut of those profits. Lastly I made it a priority to secure the Galactic Market hub to minimize my market fee.
My traditions were Expansion, Prosperity, Diplomacy, Supremacy and Harmony in that order. My Ascension Perks were Technological Ascendancy (needed that tech boost), Mastery of Nature (2 more districts for Ecumenopolis), Arcology Project (for Ecumenopolis), Voidbone (to get Master Builders), Master Builders (for megastructure build speed and MEga-Engineering tech) and Galactic Wonders (for various things).
My immediate sector had 3 other Continental planets, 2 of which were size 23 and one of those had lots of Agriculture districts, so I had an ideal Ecumenopolis candidate and a good Agri-world to support it.
Turns out my next-door neighbor was a Federation Builder, who just so happened to be rivals with THEIR neighbor who didnt like me much. So I declare rivalry with the rival and bam instant Federation. The rival empire would go on to form a Federation with two more MEgacorps, who would in turn rival another empire that would become another of my Federation partners. Meanwhile another of my neighbors was yet another Megacorp that ended up becoming my first Subsidiary.
By mid-game I was looking to create my first Ecumenopolis, which meant saving up 20k Minerals. Now this was rather difficult with such a small empre, but this is where the Branch Offices saved the day. I filled them to capacity with Private Mining Consortiums to generate the Minerals I needed. This allowed me to turn one of the size 23 planets into an Ecumenopolis. Now that I had those Foundry and Leisure Arcologies I was able to phase out my Alloy Foundries and Unity buildings, opening up quite a few building slots for other things.
Late-mid game I did a few more subjugation wars and secured three more Subsidiaries, defeating the Federation of my biggest rival in the process.
Late game saw the awakening of a Fallen Empire. This was quite the oh-crap moment for me, first seeing their 85k power fleet... then seeing they had no less than FIVE of those. I ended up taking a break to formulate a strategy to fight them, and came to the conclusion that with a fleet doctrie to counter theirs and activating every possible bonus I could potentially repel them in a defensive war. Fortunately it never came to that, they focused on the other side of the galaxy and never even made a demand of me. Their awakening did raise the threshold for score victory, though.
In the meantime I was working on my Megastructures. First up was the Matter Decompressor which allowed me to massively expand my alloy industry. Next was the Strategic Coordination Center for the increased naval cap. Then I built the Science Nexus to help me get through the repeatable technologies (I was already working on those). The last one I built was the Dyson Sphere because more money why not.
And then at around year 2460 I got the notification of the Galactic Power Surge, which meant the Unbidden were on their way. Fortunately with my massive fleet which i tailored to counter them, they never got very far. As in they only got as far out as 1 jump from their portal before I kicked them back into their dimension. It definitely helped that the portal opened pretty close to the center of my empire so I was able to respond quickly. The conflict did give me an extra 7k points which secured my victory come year 2500.
So that's that. The crisis is over and Ive got half the galaxy in my pocket, with my empire on par with the awakened fallen empire in power... and they're due to hit their decedance cap any day now (assuming that's still a thign). For now though im quite tired of playing this and i'm willing to just call this a win.
Feel free to share your own opinions and critique my play style.
Relevant information:
-Build: 2.2.3
-Difficulty: Captian
-Galaxy: smallest 2-arm spiral
-AI Empires: as many as would fit
-Fallen Empires: 1
-Crisis Strength: 1x