Fairly new player to Stellaris, just couple of hundred hours under my belt... 
Thought it might be a time to post my opinions, feelings, and some of my ideas for Stellaris here.
Lets first start with opinions and feelings... Absolutely stellar game. So many different aspects come together brilliantly and work often without a hitch. And i still feel like i have just barely scratched the surface of the game.
Some of the things in the game leave somewhat ambivalent feelings. Like Fallen Empires. I really, really love having them around, only to really, really hate it when they awake or when they get abused either by me or the AI. I mean IMO FE's ought to keep replacing their losses and at least make an effort to try to regain their lost territory. Not perhaps be all that eager to do that or build ships at ridiculous rate but it often feels like it still should be doing that. Yet instead if the FE doesn't wake up it will end up abused and annexed without any serious resistance after the initial defeat (if and when that occurs).
But then the Awakened Fallen Empire... It is possible to swindle them enough to beat them in war score but all too often it feels like all you are doing in the game is preparing for the next round of warfare against AFE - and that is kinda sad. Especially since at least for me the Guardian of the Galaxy and War in Heavens seem to occur really, really rarely (but that might be just bad luck with randomizer). Even beating one does rarely do the trick since their loss replacement rates are so ridiculously high - even when you yourself have huge empire with massive industry in comparison. So i personally do not think it would hurt the game all that much if AFEs were toned down a bit, perhaps via menu option (when starting a new game), since it appears that some really like AFEs to be as strong as they are, but not all do.
Another would be the lack of automatic exploration from the start. It just seems silly and contrived to have to research separately for a technology for the ships to be able to do that on their own. IMO most such options should have an automatic option from the start. The survey tech could be replaced by a tech that would allow autonomous (robotic) survey ships to operate without a crew if needed - of course without ability to deal with anomalies or research either, or something such. Or probes, or something.
End game however often feels somewhat neglected. Assuming you have dealt with Crisis and Awakened FE's, if any, all you can do is to grind, grind and grind the game to its conclusion, liberating or capturing a handful of worlds per war, then waiting ten years, rinse and repeat... I know it is technically a sandbox game without necessarily any ending but that just seems a tad off - and I'm not surprised that many just go ahead and start a new game rather than grind enough to see the one popup screen that is the 'reward'. Just seems like something ought to be done about that - no idea what though, repeating Crisis perhaps, with increasing difficulty or something? Increasing internal conflicts, civil wars, maybe?
What i wonder about the weapons... Sort of thinking of other Space strategy games (especially from MOO roots). Would it be feasible, (un)thinkable, or practical (or even remotely possible) to have something different. What i mean is that when...
(1.1) Is that when you pick that weapon from the sidebar in ship designer game would offer you options according to technologies you have researched - meaning instead of there being 'Sentinel Point-Defense' you would just click on kinetic weapon of your choice and it would open a list of options, like normal, rapid fire, very rapid fire, each with decreasing armor penetration and range but increasing firing rate and effectiveness in PD role.
(1.2) Option to have laser or missile based PD in somewhat similar manner as described above. Of course these could come in different flavors, like missile PD being long ranged but shooting at lowest rate and so on...
(1.3) To have spinal mounts (which could be a technology that can be researched) on all sizes of ships. And i don't mean fitting XL sized weapons on a corvette but that a corvette could carry a M sized weapon in a spinal-M mount, and a destroyers L mount would instead be a spinal-L mount. Not sure what do to with cruisers though unless the weapon sizes are expanded a bit.
(1.4) To allow, for example when fitting the computer thing for the ships, defining the AI mode under which the ships of that class operate. For example for close in brawler style battleship you would kind want to have more of a skirmish (of sorts) AI instead of artillery AI. Dedicated carrier AI wouldn't hurt either.
(1.5) Just as an idea for the future... A radical change to the ship design system... What i would fancy is that you would get just say 18 (3 x 6) slots per ship regardless of the size and that all ships would have dedicated front, middle and rear section. Minimal armor, no drive, nothing by default. Those of you familiar with GURPS: Spaceships can probably see what I'm after. More engines -> faster ship but engines could only go to the rear section and so on... Corvette would end up with 18 XS slots (nominally, meaning 9 S), destroyer with 18 S, cruiser with 18 M and battleship with 18 L. And then you could make yours impervious to guns by layering armor, or make them eggshells with hammers. Of course AI would need to be taught to use the system too...
I think that is enough for ships for now...
Then to the armies... While i do really like the ground forces thing it seems rather lacking as it is. I mean the gaps between various options are immense. By late game it seems the best bet is to use 20-30 space marine (=genetic warrior) stacks to take planets without any bombardment. Which is hardly surprising since the basic infantry Garrison/Defense/Assault doesn't really get any better...
(2.1) Loaning ideas from MOO (the first one, really), it shouldn't be that hard to give the ground troops an incremental advances as the research to new technologies progresses. I mean, new laser tech (or gun tech, or all weapon techs) could give say +5% to infantry. Some society stuff could do the same for morale bonus, new armor research for defense bonus and so on. And then have the troop type (like Genetic Warrior) instead of bringing a gigantic leap (almost +200%) to provide some +50% instead. Or something. Not sure if it would be all that immense value but it just seems that it might be nice to have the advances in technology be also reflected in the armies as well...
(2.2) Have an option to make troops heavily or lightly equipped - with appropriate bonuses and penalties. Light meaning something akin to standard sci-fi trope of orbital insertion troops or like Halo ODST - fast or instant drop on planets, possibly even despite of defenses, but with reduced capabilities; while heavy would be like full AT-AT invasion, takes ages to land or lift them but murderously effective on ground compared to light. Normal would be something of a convenient mixture of both...
Apologies for the somewhat TLDRish post... I guess most of these have been discussed previously but i just thought to offer my opinions on these. Also i suppose mods are the way to dealing with most of that. Helping hand(s) - in sense of pointing to the right mods - would be appreciated.
Thought it might be a time to post my opinions, feelings, and some of my ideas for Stellaris here.Lets first start with opinions and feelings... Absolutely stellar game. So many different aspects come together brilliantly and work often without a hitch. And i still feel like i have just barely scratched the surface of the game.
Some of the things in the game leave somewhat ambivalent feelings. Like Fallen Empires. I really, really love having them around, only to really, really hate it when they awake or when they get abused either by me or the AI. I mean IMO FE's ought to keep replacing their losses and at least make an effort to try to regain their lost territory. Not perhaps be all that eager to do that or build ships at ridiculous rate but it often feels like it still should be doing that. Yet instead if the FE doesn't wake up it will end up abused and annexed without any serious resistance after the initial defeat (if and when that occurs).
But then the Awakened Fallen Empire... It is possible to swindle them enough to beat them in war score but all too often it feels like all you are doing in the game is preparing for the next round of warfare against AFE - and that is kinda sad. Especially since at least for me the Guardian of the Galaxy and War in Heavens seem to occur really, really rarely (but that might be just bad luck with randomizer). Even beating one does rarely do the trick since their loss replacement rates are so ridiculously high - even when you yourself have huge empire with massive industry in comparison. So i personally do not think it would hurt the game all that much if AFEs were toned down a bit, perhaps via menu option (when starting a new game), since it appears that some really like AFEs to be as strong as they are, but not all do.
Another would be the lack of automatic exploration from the start. It just seems silly and contrived to have to research separately for a technology for the ships to be able to do that on their own. IMO most such options should have an automatic option from the start. The survey tech could be replaced by a tech that would allow autonomous (robotic) survey ships to operate without a crew if needed - of course without ability to deal with anomalies or research either, or something such. Or probes, or something.
End game however often feels somewhat neglected. Assuming you have dealt with Crisis and Awakened FE's, if any, all you can do is to grind, grind and grind the game to its conclusion, liberating or capturing a handful of worlds per war, then waiting ten years, rinse and repeat... I know it is technically a sandbox game without necessarily any ending but that just seems a tad off - and I'm not surprised that many just go ahead and start a new game rather than grind enough to see the one popup screen that is the 'reward'. Just seems like something ought to be done about that - no idea what though, repeating Crisis perhaps, with increasing difficulty or something? Increasing internal conflicts, civil wars, maybe?
What i wonder about the weapons... Sort of thinking of other Space strategy games (especially from MOO roots). Would it be feasible, (un)thinkable, or practical (or even remotely possible) to have something different. What i mean is that when...
(1.1) Is that when you pick that weapon from the sidebar in ship designer game would offer you options according to technologies you have researched - meaning instead of there being 'Sentinel Point-Defense' you would just click on kinetic weapon of your choice and it would open a list of options, like normal, rapid fire, very rapid fire, each with decreasing armor penetration and range but increasing firing rate and effectiveness in PD role.
(1.2) Option to have laser or missile based PD in somewhat similar manner as described above. Of course these could come in different flavors, like missile PD being long ranged but shooting at lowest rate and so on...
(1.3) To have spinal mounts (which could be a technology that can be researched) on all sizes of ships. And i don't mean fitting XL sized weapons on a corvette but that a corvette could carry a M sized weapon in a spinal-M mount, and a destroyers L mount would instead be a spinal-L mount. Not sure what do to with cruisers though unless the weapon sizes are expanded a bit.
(1.4) To allow, for example when fitting the computer thing for the ships, defining the AI mode under which the ships of that class operate. For example for close in brawler style battleship you would kind want to have more of a skirmish (of sorts) AI instead of artillery AI. Dedicated carrier AI wouldn't hurt either.
(1.5) Just as an idea for the future... A radical change to the ship design system... What i would fancy is that you would get just say 18 (3 x 6) slots per ship regardless of the size and that all ships would have dedicated front, middle and rear section. Minimal armor, no drive, nothing by default. Those of you familiar with GURPS: Spaceships can probably see what I'm after. More engines -> faster ship but engines could only go to the rear section and so on... Corvette would end up with 18 XS slots (nominally, meaning 9 S), destroyer with 18 S, cruiser with 18 M and battleship with 18 L. And then you could make yours impervious to guns by layering armor, or make them eggshells with hammers. Of course AI would need to be taught to use the system too...
I think that is enough for ships for now...
Then to the armies... While i do really like the ground forces thing it seems rather lacking as it is. I mean the gaps between various options are immense. By late game it seems the best bet is to use 20-30 space marine (=genetic warrior) stacks to take planets without any bombardment. Which is hardly surprising since the basic infantry Garrison/Defense/Assault doesn't really get any better...
(2.1) Loaning ideas from MOO (the first one, really), it shouldn't be that hard to give the ground troops an incremental advances as the research to new technologies progresses. I mean, new laser tech (or gun tech, or all weapon techs) could give say +5% to infantry. Some society stuff could do the same for morale bonus, new armor research for defense bonus and so on. And then have the troop type (like Genetic Warrior) instead of bringing a gigantic leap (almost +200%) to provide some +50% instead. Or something. Not sure if it would be all that immense value but it just seems that it might be nice to have the advances in technology be also reflected in the armies as well...
(2.2) Have an option to make troops heavily or lightly equipped - with appropriate bonuses and penalties. Light meaning something akin to standard sci-fi trope of orbital insertion troops or like Halo ODST - fast or instant drop on planets, possibly even despite of defenses, but with reduced capabilities; while heavy would be like full AT-AT invasion, takes ages to land or lift them but murderously effective on ground compared to light. Normal would be something of a convenient mixture of both...
Apologies for the somewhat TLDRish post... I guess most of these have been discussed previously but i just thought to offer my opinions on these. Also i suppose mods are the way to dealing with most of that. Helping hand(s) - in sense of pointing to the right mods - would be appreciated.
