For the TL;DR version, see the last paragraph below.
I bought Stellaris just after 2.2 was released. Now normally I’m not into 4x/strategy games, but the description for this one sounded interesting, and with Steam having the new release on sale, bundled with a couple DLC items, I decided to give it a try. I must say, I’m having a blast so far. I’m sure much of the following will be wrote for most of you, but hopefully it’s at least somewhat of an interesting read.
I started in a tiny galaxy with everything set to the defaults. I figured I’d start small and just get my feet wet for my first game. It took some getting used to, managing the economy, building my fleet up, scanning new systems, etc. The tutorial was helpful in the very early game, but I felt it could hold a new player’s hand a fair bit longer than it did. I had to check the Wiki and search on-line for some answers.
Eventually the tiny galaxy’s inhabitants were fully revealed to me, with a friendly neighbor on one side, a hostile on the other, and a couple others too far away from me in the early game to care about. I had colonized some new planets, and after getting the hang of things, my economy was humming along nicely. I chose the “United Nations of Earth” for my starting player type, or whatever it’s really called. I made pacts with the nice neighbor, and hurled insults and animosity to the other.
Eventually a marauder fleet appears in one section of the galaxy, and my enemy to the north quickly hired them to teach me a lesson. They marched through his territory and came into my domain, advancing rapidly through three systems. My force was insignificant compared to theirs, and all I could do was watch as they attacked one of my colonies. Interestingly, they chose to enslave only 17% of the population before they deemed I had been taught said lesson, at which point they vacated my territory promptly.
I kept building up my fleet, and decided it was time to repay my enemy in kind. I made some claims on his territory and marched in through a choke point in his domain. I took a couple systems quickly, when his main fleet showed up, and I dispatched it after a satisfying fight. I had to learn the mechanics of war in Stellaris at this point, as the tutorial had nothing in it pertaining to combat that I recall. It took a few reloads of save games to undo some foolish initial decisions on my part.
I eventually got him to 100% war exhaustion, which I thought would force him to automatically capitulate, but it was quite a while after that before he finally gave in, and it was that in-between acceptance of defeat that didn’t give me all the territory I’d laid claim to. Still, it was a win, so I continued to colonize additional worlds in my domain, build my economy up, and war on him further. It got to the point where the only way I could get him to fully surrender was to take control of nearly every system in his domain.
By this point he was crushed, when suddenly that marauder empire turned into this “Kahn” I’d read much about when researching this game. As expected his fleets were overwhelmingly powerful, and they devastated the surrounding empires, my friendly neighbor included. But then, right on my doorstop, after taking over only one system of mine at the edge of my space, they stopped. They could have stamped me into the dust, but didn’t, and within a few years turned friendly (which I later found out is pretty much scripted to happen, or at least stop being belligerent, correct me if I’m wrong).
The refugees caused by this were massive, and my economy tanked hard. I must admit, at this point I thought I had done something wrong in this first play through and seriously considered quitting and starting over. Fortunately I decided to tough it out, and while it took maybe 5 or 10 years, the economy was repaired, with most resources generating in the triple digits, and I was glad I decided to keep playing as it taught me how to recover from things like this, which I would certainly need for future games.
Empires split into new factions, wars were fought, and the former Kahn’s territory and I were now like peas and carrots. It was late game and coming up on 2500, and the numbers on the leaderboard had me for the easy win. And then (I assume) the real end-game begin. The warning about an out-of-galaxy invasion fleet heading our way had me building my fleet up as rapidly as possible, but when they arrived it seemed pretty hopeless.
Their multiple 40k blobs crushed everything in their path. I keep building my fleet while they took over approximately 40% of the galaxy. I finally had my own 40k fleet that was able to destroy the first of theirs, but it took time to repair and replace ships while they pressed their advantage. But then, just as with the Kahn, they seemed to peter out. They took a few of my systems, parked a blob stack at a choke point, and sat there.
I killed the blob on the choke point several times, until another force rose up, some kind of beings also from out of the galaxy who can integrate with our races, and encouraged me to keep fighting. I did, and they eventually gave me one of their 40k blobs to use along with mine. I’m sure this is all familiar to you vets of this game.
Eventually, while this new force mostly sat and watched, and everyone else in the galaxy with no ships left to muster, I curb-stomped the invaders. All of their ships are destroyed, and all systems they claimed have been cleared of their star bases. There are still many planets that they have colonized, but nothing I do seems effective at evicting them. Orbital bombardment does nothing.
Once again my economy was a wreck, but once more I was able to repair the damage, and in the process take most of the territory the invaders had previously occupied, now controlling about half the galaxy in the process.
AND FINALLY, MY MAIN QUESTION: When does this game end? Unless I’m mistaken, it should have ended in the year 2500, but because of the invasion, it says something to the effect of the game can’t end yet. I can’t seem to clear the invader’s colonies from the planets they control, even though every other trace of them has been wiped out. There was a message about a drone finding a queen, or something of the invaders, and research was going to be done, but so far nothing. Is there something I need to do, or is it just a matter of waiting out a timer or something? It’s been a blast, and I want to experience the final thrill of victory, but I’m also eager to start a fresh game with my few found play experience; I’ve been playing for over 45 real hours on this one game (I hit “pause” a lot). Or, is there yet more to come? Feel free to spoil me!
I bought Stellaris just after 2.2 was released. Now normally I’m not into 4x/strategy games, but the description for this one sounded interesting, and with Steam having the new release on sale, bundled with a couple DLC items, I decided to give it a try. I must say, I’m having a blast so far. I’m sure much of the following will be wrote for most of you, but hopefully it’s at least somewhat of an interesting read.
I started in a tiny galaxy with everything set to the defaults. I figured I’d start small and just get my feet wet for my first game. It took some getting used to, managing the economy, building my fleet up, scanning new systems, etc. The tutorial was helpful in the very early game, but I felt it could hold a new player’s hand a fair bit longer than it did. I had to check the Wiki and search on-line for some answers.
Eventually the tiny galaxy’s inhabitants were fully revealed to me, with a friendly neighbor on one side, a hostile on the other, and a couple others too far away from me in the early game to care about. I had colonized some new planets, and after getting the hang of things, my economy was humming along nicely. I chose the “United Nations of Earth” for my starting player type, or whatever it’s really called. I made pacts with the nice neighbor, and hurled insults and animosity to the other.
Eventually a marauder fleet appears in one section of the galaxy, and my enemy to the north quickly hired them to teach me a lesson. They marched through his territory and came into my domain, advancing rapidly through three systems. My force was insignificant compared to theirs, and all I could do was watch as they attacked one of my colonies. Interestingly, they chose to enslave only 17% of the population before they deemed I had been taught said lesson, at which point they vacated my territory promptly.
I kept building up my fleet, and decided it was time to repay my enemy in kind. I made some claims on his territory and marched in through a choke point in his domain. I took a couple systems quickly, when his main fleet showed up, and I dispatched it after a satisfying fight. I had to learn the mechanics of war in Stellaris at this point, as the tutorial had nothing in it pertaining to combat that I recall. It took a few reloads of save games to undo some foolish initial decisions on my part.
I eventually got him to 100% war exhaustion, which I thought would force him to automatically capitulate, but it was quite a while after that before he finally gave in, and it was that in-between acceptance of defeat that didn’t give me all the territory I’d laid claim to. Still, it was a win, so I continued to colonize additional worlds in my domain, build my economy up, and war on him further. It got to the point where the only way I could get him to fully surrender was to take control of nearly every system in his domain.
By this point he was crushed, when suddenly that marauder empire turned into this “Kahn” I’d read much about when researching this game. As expected his fleets were overwhelmingly powerful, and they devastated the surrounding empires, my friendly neighbor included. But then, right on my doorstop, after taking over only one system of mine at the edge of my space, they stopped. They could have stamped me into the dust, but didn’t, and within a few years turned friendly (which I later found out is pretty much scripted to happen, or at least stop being belligerent, correct me if I’m wrong).
The refugees caused by this were massive, and my economy tanked hard. I must admit, at this point I thought I had done something wrong in this first play through and seriously considered quitting and starting over. Fortunately I decided to tough it out, and while it took maybe 5 or 10 years, the economy was repaired, with most resources generating in the triple digits, and I was glad I decided to keep playing as it taught me how to recover from things like this, which I would certainly need for future games.
Empires split into new factions, wars were fought, and the former Kahn’s territory and I were now like peas and carrots. It was late game and coming up on 2500, and the numbers on the leaderboard had me for the easy win. And then (I assume) the real end-game begin. The warning about an out-of-galaxy invasion fleet heading our way had me building my fleet up as rapidly as possible, but when they arrived it seemed pretty hopeless.
Their multiple 40k blobs crushed everything in their path. I keep building my fleet while they took over approximately 40% of the galaxy. I finally had my own 40k fleet that was able to destroy the first of theirs, but it took time to repair and replace ships while they pressed their advantage. But then, just as with the Kahn, they seemed to peter out. They took a few of my systems, parked a blob stack at a choke point, and sat there.
I killed the blob on the choke point several times, until another force rose up, some kind of beings also from out of the galaxy who can integrate with our races, and encouraged me to keep fighting. I did, and they eventually gave me one of their 40k blobs to use along with mine. I’m sure this is all familiar to you vets of this game.
Eventually, while this new force mostly sat and watched, and everyone else in the galaxy with no ships left to muster, I curb-stomped the invaders. All of their ships are destroyed, and all systems they claimed have been cleared of their star bases. There are still many planets that they have colonized, but nothing I do seems effective at evicting them. Orbital bombardment does nothing.
Once again my economy was a wreck, but once more I was able to repair the damage, and in the process take most of the territory the invaders had previously occupied, now controlling about half the galaxy in the process.
AND FINALLY, MY MAIN QUESTION: When does this game end? Unless I’m mistaken, it should have ended in the year 2500, but because of the invasion, it says something to the effect of the game can’t end yet. I can’t seem to clear the invader’s colonies from the planets they control, even though every other trace of them has been wiped out. There was a message about a drone finding a queen, or something of the invaders, and research was going to be done, but so far nothing. Is there something I need to do, or is it just a matter of waiting out a timer or something? It’s been a blast, and I want to experience the final thrill of victory, but I’m also eager to start a fresh game with my few found play experience; I’ve been playing for over 45 real hours on this one game (I hit “pause” a lot). Or, is there yet more to come? Feel free to spoil me!
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