There are certain empire types (mostly robots) that can do well if you force spawn a good build. Most random AI are trash, but you do need to make a lot of force spawns to get the variety it can provide.
How do you keep having fun while you're in the late game?
- Thread starter DasSmach
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I've been struggling with having fun in the late game as well.
I still think Stellaris has the best RP potential of any game, and personally I enjoy tedious population and economic management. I hate map painters, intensely, so I just RP and build a few planets.
Lately I've been doing very long runs with humans only, in an empty galaxy, slowly expanding and building up sectors (only within their 4-jump range, the rest I leave as empty space, they can contest on their own after I release them later), and releasing them as vassals. This is not great, as vassals are really poorly-made in this game, they can't do anything at all. But I still build them up and keep them as vassals until I colonize the galaxy... then I will release them and see how they interact, make war on each other, make their own federations etc...all under the umbrella of my galactic custodianship.
It takes a lot of time and patience, but this long-term RP storytelling is what's keeping me alive through Stellaris' shortfalls, of which there are many, vassal gameplay being foremost.
I truly hope they will do something more elaborate with feudal empire soon. I think it would make business sense too, with Dune being as po[pular as it is, it might bring in new players.
Tbh they should act fast and make it their next DLC theme: a vast galactic feudal empire, with LOTS to do internally. Dune will sell this for Paradox. There's also the Foundation series, but that train already left the station. Still, it can be done, in this year, and piggy-back on the current sci-fi trend
I still think Stellaris has the best RP potential of any game, and personally I enjoy tedious population and economic management. I hate map painters, intensely, so I just RP and build a few planets.
Lately I've been doing very long runs with humans only, in an empty galaxy, slowly expanding and building up sectors (only within their 4-jump range, the rest I leave as empty space, they can contest on their own after I release them later), and releasing them as vassals. This is not great, as vassals are really poorly-made in this game, they can't do anything at all. But I still build them up and keep them as vassals until I colonize the galaxy... then I will release them and see how they interact, make war on each other, make their own federations etc...all under the umbrella of my galactic custodianship.
It takes a lot of time and patience, but this long-term RP storytelling is what's keeping me alive through Stellaris' shortfalls, of which there are many, vassal gameplay being foremost.
I truly hope they will do something more elaborate with feudal empire soon. I think it would make business sense too, with Dune being as po[pular as it is, it might bring in new players.
Tbh they should act fast and make it their next DLC theme: a vast galactic feudal empire, with LOTS to do internally. Dune will sell this for Paradox. There's also the Foundation series, but that train already left the station. Still, it can be done, in this year, and piggy-back on the current sci-fi trend
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I do almost the same, I've spent a lot of time to Prebuild dozens of empires with OK to OP builds to populate the galaxy. Only playing with humans empires (and 1 devouring swarm, 1 driven assimilator half life combine like)
Just a matter of taste, but personally, space poneys/cactus/dolphins just ruin my immersion more than FTL travel. I prefer to RP a galaxy where sapient life is very rare, humans colonized an empty milky way, formed a galactic empire and then collapse and regress to Pre space age on isolated Colonies. (Asimov Fondation like) Despite having set up manually dozens of different humans empires, the game insist on spawning random trash empires, idk why.
Vanilla AI is pretty much garbage, but playing with heavy mods such as ACOT and Giga, it kinda manage to somewhat catch up and even manage to build up decents fleets. Last time, one of my vassals manage to hold back the buffed ACOT Scourge on his own for quite a while ( I was so proud of him
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This. Also, set the midgame/endgame date appropriate to your skill level, because if you give yourself too long you will outscale any challenge the game can throw at you. The difference between an endgame year of, say, 2400 versus 2350 is not just 50 more game years of boredom, but also 50 more years of practically unimpeded stockpiling of power from an already huge industrial/technological base (assuming you also gave yourself an easy ride before 2350). In terms of playtime the game slows to a crawl, but measured in game years, everything compounds on itself faster and faster. Honestly I don't think the default Stellaris victory year of 2500 really works, because there's not enough content for a 300-year game.
Gigastructures mod and so on let you get to levels of scale much higher than the base game, and they scale up the challenges too; AI mods can let the AI scale up a lot more too. However, they can't alter the fundamental "number go up" dynamics of this sort of game where once you start winning, you just keep on winning harder.
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Console commands to switch empire control are quite useful while using ACOT/Giga, to set up AI megastructure building for example. When I get the UNE and Sol system, I like to terraform it, ignite Jupiter with the stellar compressor and colonize the galilean moons, transform Mars into an ecumenopolis, Venus into a Maginot world, Mercury into an equatorial shipyard. In terms of RP its really nice, and it turn the system into an ecomic/military powerhouse which can make a very good vassal once released.
This kind of great project is something that really lack in the Vanilla game. It create narrative and different gameplay than the usual (boring) map painting/microhell planet management
This kind of great project is something that really lack in the Vanilla game. It create narrative and different gameplay than the usual (boring) map painting/microhell planet management
The best games seem to be the War in Heaven - and not picking a side (the league). If you don’t play optimally and up the difficulty and crisis difficulty to remain challenging, it’s can be quite intense. You might have the biggest fleet or biggest economy but your not hugely ahead, you need AI friends.
Whilst not strictly the end game, you can be sandwiched from nearing the end of the WiH to the crisis occurring, giving you little time to recover, again depending on the difficulty and crisis strength this should be challenging~neigh impossible.
This is the most fun, for me anyway, throw in a caretaker FE etc and it’s just a giant mess for the galaxy.
and yeah void dwelling life sounds hard work .
-are you using tiny outliner? It makes a big difference in managing the right menu and you have to do a lot less scrolling.
-make a border AI friend purposely, with cooperative stance and that has none opposing ethics to you and grow a federation.
-maybe there’s a suggestion out there to make habitat building more… automated, along the lines of the elevation chamber for necroids? Sounds like the play style needs it.
Maybe there’s something out there that could be done by developers ^^
That are my thoughts. Reduce the amount of planets, increase the tech modifier. Games will last much longer, there isnt just so much space to play with, it reduces micro and also output on all fronts which leads less productive empires. Less planets, less alloys, less fleets. It can be really challanging to defeat a crisis with these settings depending on your skill.
Starnet and Startech AI can beef up this experience but can also be overwhelming at some plays.