If I ask ignorant, honest questions will I get banned?

[ShouldIBuy]

Hi, I'm new here. I've never heard of paradox interactive and I only heard of stellaris once before when it first came out. If someone says "Have you played stellaris?" I would say ask about this game https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solaris_(video_game) for the atari 2600. As you can see I have a very long memory when it comes to video games. Remember that.

I'd like to ask some very basic questions but I did my due diligence and read the forum stickies. This one in particular worried me: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...inder-regarding-steam-review-threads.1094640/

It talks about steam, which I could care less about and never use if possible. I hope stellaris is not a steam-only game. I always pay extra to never have to use that barrier between me and my games. So again, I don't care about steam, or even game reviewing companies for that matter. On average, I have more experience and knowledge of the internal mechanics, coding, history, and art of what they review than they do, so what they say does not bother me. But the sticky does say warn against "mean-spirited celebration" of reviews scores (which I don't care about).

So I need to first ask if I am able to reference information I have learned with researching. If I learn of something that is relevant to stellaris, and that happens to come from those sources, does that mean I am not allow to discuss them? Basically my question is: does that make it fruit of the poisonous tree?

I have to have some measure of freedom of speech to reference these things in order to get my basic questions answered. Of course, I am not owed any answers. Feel free to ignore me. But it does mean that I'll have to once again ignore this game (like I did when it first came out) until I can find someone knowledgeable enough to address some rather specific questions. I'm fine with that, because I there's always endless space and MoO. I had just hoped going straight to the first hand source would be the best way to get information before purchasing.

 

[praftd]

That is specifically referring to when people bring up steam reviews and go, "wow look how bad this game is! PDX is blah blah blah".

As long as yoi aren't spamming the forums and are asking genuine questions, there is no issue as far as I'm aware.

 

[Seb_Jean]

If you're polite, nobody will ban you.

 

[Draconaes]

Yes. Only dishonest questions are allowed here.

 

[UltimateTobi]

Stellaris is not Steam-exclusive. It is also available via the Paradox Store (and its Launcher) and GOG. I don't think I am allowed to link to GOG so just Google it I recommend.

Also, you can discuss anything you want. Though I am not sure about linking to external sources. (Haven't had trouble linking to Workshop content for example.)

 

[Duuk]

You can ask whatever you like. The mods and the forum community are actually pretty awesome here. The Steam reviews are kind of all over the board because of a Steam-bombing that happened over a few serious design changes that happened that (in about 90% of everyone's opinion) made the game better.

Not everyone agreed with those changes (note the "FTL Discussion Megathread" that has literally been rampaging for like a year) and it resulted in some anger, gnashing of teeth, thrown fruit, pitchforks, children sacrificed to the Shroud, etc.

In general, so long as you don't physically burn down Paradox's headquarters they're pretty reasonable.

Unless you threaten Glitterhoof in the Crusader Kings forum. If you do that, you don't deserve to live and even God himself can't save you.

 

[Summin Cool]

Nah, you just get downvoted

 

[Aotrs Commander]

Noting also there is, in each game's forum, a "quick questions and answers" thread (doesn't usually fall much below page two or three), explictly designed for asking questions, stupid or otherwise. There's a frack-ton to learn even in the GSG that are relatively less intense, so don't be afraid to ask away. Heck, every so often someone will expiain something and someone else will say "I've been playing for 500 hours and I didn't know that!"

 

[Matoro_TBS]

Yeah, sure, ask away. That thread you linked is more about people being jerks and thus being banned. Don't worry about it.

 

[ShouldIBuy]

Thank you guys. I am currently watching this:

and that's why I'm looking at Stellaris now. To be honest I had forgotten about Stellaris because it didn't look 'ripe yet' when it was first launched. That's not an insult, more of a state of the gaming industry as a whole. I'm not a "ship it ready but never gives updates" kind of guy. I'm actually fine with the taboo of continual development that people mock Rimworld for, etc.

I'll start with what I know and like: Civ5 civic system, randomized tech (exactly how is it randomized?), events, civ4ish ideological diplomacy modifiers, very complex and gradiented government/ideology, EXTREMELY IN DEPTH racial customization, star lanes (does it get free travel eventually? Is it at slower speeds?), importing assets, mods (are they looked down upon by paradox as 'cheats' or is it well-integrated and supported as best as possible. And obviously I've played 4x's before so I already know what I like and don't like.

Those were the easy questions. The hard ones are about the balance consistency in the default empire AI and then how the enemy race's AI fairs. I heard from various ... upset sources that it's not possible to, even after intense effort create a sustainable economy as a player. I take those critiques with a grain of salt, so I'll ask a related question: Is it possible to build a functional (but of course not optimal) economy as a player without fighting the AI? An example would be having to place farming races on farming rather than industry every time they pop to avoid starvation.

The second question is if the computer players do not use the district system and therefore collapse under their own mismanaged weight. Take that as another ... rumor. How true is this statement? I'm basically wondering how stable that part of the game is. The litmus test would seem to be if the AI (at non-cheating difficulty) are smart enough to form a reliable rock paper scissors list? If so, can anyone link me such a list?

I really like a lot of what I'm seeing in that LP. But if the entirety of the challenge is fighting with your own city governor defaults, and there is no challenge beyond that in fighting the AI, then I'll wait for 2.2 to become stable (or change again, since I heard that the diplomacy system was the next thing to get overhauled). I am aware that I can buy the full Stellaris package and then simply revert to 2.1, but that feels like I'd be losing ground and investing time in an outdated system considering how much has changed in 2.2. Again, much of it is probably for the better (like the GalCiv planet picture micromanagement) and I have no dog in the fight. I'm merely curious about whether to wait again.

 

[Matoro_TBS]

I'll start with what I know and like: Civ5 civic system, randomized tech (exactly how is it randomized?), events, civ4ish ideological diplomacy modifiers, very complex and gradiented government/ideology, EXTREMELY IN DEPTH racial customization, star lanes (does it get free travel eventually? Is it at slower speeds?), importing assets, mods (are they looked down upon by paradox as 'cheats' or is it well-integrated and supported as best as possible. And obviously I've played 4x's before so I already know what I like and don't like.

- Tech is is basically a deck with multiple tiers, and it draws certain amount of available tech choices every time one finishes. After you have researched enough tier 1 techs it can start drawing tier 2 techs.
- There's late-game tech called Jump Drive which gives much more freedom in movement. There's also wormholes, gateways and L-Gates which make moving faster eventually. It will never become completely free of hyperlanes.
- There are mod launcher incorporated to game launcher, so I guess they are supported.

Those were the easy questions. The hard ones are about the balance consistency in the default empire AI and then how the enemy race's AI fairs. I heard from various ... upset sources that it's not possible to, even after intense effort create a sustainable economy as a player. I take those critiques with a grain of salt, so I'll ask a related question: Is it possible to build a functional (but of course not optimal) economy as a player without fighting the AI? An example would be having to place farming races on farming rather than industry every time they pop to avoid starvation.

- AI is... problematic. If you are looking for true challange, you have to up the difficulty, which mostly just gives the AI more stuff. The game is more like a sandbox than 4X.
- You can build good economy without fighting a single war. Fanatic Pacifist is very doable. Especially 2.2 made it much more interesting.

The second question is if the computer players do not use the district system and therefore collapse under their own mismanaged weight. Take that as another ... rumor. How true is this statement? I'm basically wondering how stable that part of the game is. The litmus test would seem to be if the AI (at non-cheating difficulty) are smart enough to form a reliable rock paper scissors list? If so, can anyone link me such a list?

- There are some AI suicide bugs, mostly in bigger updates, but they get usually fixed pretty quick. AI is able to support itself well enough, but don't expect it to be very competitive to the player on normal difficulties.

Stellaris is not a 4X in a sense that there's no real victory conditions. If you have played other Paradox titles, you should know already what is their vision of "grand strategy." These games are more like... sandboxes. I don't recommend Stellaris if you wish to play against good AI and have challenge winning. However if you like creating your own empires and narratives Stellaris is the best space sim there is.

 

[Bryartuck]

Paradox is VERY supportive of mods. There are modding sub-forums for all of their games, which you can get access to if you purchase and register the game. If you check the patch notes for any major update on any of their games, there is always a section on modding improvements and bug fixes. As a matter of fact, two of their current game directors were modders before starting at PDS.

 

[Duuk]

The district system is new to everyone right now (in 2.2). It's literally less than 2 weeks old. We're ALL still figuring it out. To say it's broken is kind of problematic because it works... in theory. In wide release some blatantly obvious issues have been discovered and the obvious ones have been fixed (notice the beta test branch, which Paradox is good about releasing quickly). In the 2.2.2 beta branch the AI empires are much, much more capable. They're apparently more capable than I am, but that's because I'm terrible.

Are there still massive problems? Yes. Pop growth mechanics, rare/advanced material requirements, all kinds of economics balance issues.

Are these things a newbie Stellaris player would realize in the first hour? No, because you'd be busy getting overrun by the cute gekko fanatic purifiers. The adorable lizard people are not your friends.

Also, the game has several Literally Unplayable text errors that have been present since 1.0 which I find appalling and for which Wiz would be taken out and shot, even though they have been present since Doomdark was running the game. I think. If I recall. Doesn't matter, still Wiz's fault.

Also, the lack of Space Unicorns is a huge, game-breaking bug. Also a reason Wiz should be taken out and shot. Twice.

 

[Azhcristokos]

To be honest I had forgotten about Stellaris because it didn't look 'ripe yet' when it was first launched.

This is a commonly echoed sentiment. There are a number of people here who are active players now but deemed Stellaris too bare-bones at launch to bother with. I got Stellaris around launch (hadn't heard about it before it was released actually) and I liked it, but definitely thought it was kind of...skeletal.
-
You're fine to ask questions. Ask anything you want and just try not to let more...emotional people, be they ultra fanboys or ultra salty detractors, drag you into flame wars. The harshest rebuke I've ever gotten here was a mod politely asking me not to criticize someone for posting an angry rant about a non-issue in incomprehensible English.

 

[SirL]

Nah, you just get downvoted

The irony

 

[AndrewT]

I have to have some measure of freedom of speech to reference these things in order to get my basic questions answered.

At the bottom-right of every page here is a link to the Rules of Conduct that govern these forums. They are pretty clear I think. As long as you stay within those rules you'll be fine.

The answer to your title question is "no".

 

[PAnZuRiEL]

You're only liable to get banned if you write toxic, abusive posts.

I hope stellaris is not a steam-only game. I always pay extra to never have to use that barrier between me and my games.

I think it's been quite a long time since Steam could be considered a "barrier between [you] and [your] games". In particular, Paradox titles don't have any DRM, and can be run without even opening or logging into Steam. The only barrier there is psychological.

 

[ShouldIBuy]

I had not heard of Paradox before Stellaris, nor their other titles, at a quick glance. I am curious why Stellar wasn't considered 4x when it has elements from GalCiv and Endless space and Endless Space and Civ5... What happens when you destroy all the other races? is that not a victory condition? I don't mind it being not turn-based, but it still looks 4x to me. There's eXploration in the science ships (that verb is even used in the trailer), eXpanding via colony ships, eXploiting the various minerals and gases, and you can build ships to eXtinguish enemies.

So does the AI present a challenge without cheating? Or is it pretty mindless even when playing non-custom races? It shouldn't be that hard for an AI director to scan a custom race and decide on a playstyle even if you purposely try to throw it confusing combinations. Modern video games' enemy AI have progressed a lot in 25 years. I expect pacifist builds to be doable. If they weren't, then it shouldn't be an option.

How's the tedium? I didn't get a direct answer about how much you have to fight the default game actions in order to micromanage. I don't mind the defaults being not 100% efficient, but when you have to fight them (I heard MoO3 mentioned...), it can get frustrating. There's certainly enough complexity in this game (ES1 was lightweight) with things like Trade & piracy (yar!) or boarders & cohesion. Can you board ships and steal them? Is there an espionage system? Does the tutorial go all the way to end game? Can the game be throttled so it runes well on a potato? What about at max settings on an overkill gaming rig? I have the latter but I treat video games like they are running on the former, aside from running at 4k resolution.

 

[Promethian]

I personally ban everybody who asks a question on the forum. I accomplish this through magic blorg internet magic. Expect your ban to land soon.

 

[King of Zoot]

The game is absolutely a 4x 8n theme and gameplay and there are two ways to win: conquer the galaxy or unite it in your Federation or have the most points by 2500.

The game is much more removed from the board game style goal driven nature of Civ or Moo though and is more open ended in style.