Hey all,
Long time player of Europa 4 and recently been playing a bit of CK2. A friend told me about Stellaris so I went and watch the 3 hours we have on the Blorg playthrough that they are doing every Thursday. (If you want to see it go to https://www.twitch.tv/paradoxinteractive/profile)
I have a few questions and comments after having watched it 3 or 4 times now.
First off I would like to request that panda and wolf races be added to the mammalian Appearance choices... No specific reason, but they were what I immediately looked for when I went back to examine the difference species shown. Nice job on the variance btw, I think a lot of them look cool, and I laughed a lot at the Fungoid options. I would also like to request that during the next blorg video could you show what is under the PLANT subsection. It was never shown during the videos so far and I am a bit curious why that one is listed in all caps while the rest aren't...
Second, this is a pet peeve of mine in similar games, but in many games a race/player with a massive tech boost tends to be able to run away with the game. I noticed that the intelligent racial trait gives a flat 10% bonus to all research production as well as Natural engineers/physicists/sociologists Give 15% to their individual research generation. With 4 point maximum I foresee 25% in one and 10% in another with a negative in something along the lines of happiness like repugnant which is only a -1% to other species happiness. After this you take fanatic Materialist which gives you a 10% Research output to each category, making the current output +35%/+20%/+20%. Along with this your researchers all give a reduction to research time. For Government type you take Despotic Hegemony for a +5% to all research speed. In the video the starting scientists gave 2%/2%/7% as well as showing that a common early game research was Administrative AI giving a 5% research speed for the rest of the game. They also showed it was a common and possibly a weighted research choice since it appeared 3 out of 4 times before being chosen.
Meaning it is EASILY possible that 5 years into the game you have the following: Research production +35%/+20%/+20% and Research speed + 12%/12%/17%.
This is also without any character special abilities (which a 10% research speed was shown)...I feel that this is simply to much of an advantage against most other species/civilisations... Easily capable of a runaway tech build. Can we get a general answer to what balances the above tech build with other builds that are more about happiness or resources?
Third, It was mentioned that choosing your starting weapon is similar to rock paper scissors. However all ships start the game with just armor, no shields or point defence or other types of defences... As such energy weapons seem to be flat best early in the game from what we have seen. It would be nice to get a few more details showing how its a equal opportunity choice.
Fourth, I cant immagine how Hyperspace lanes are not the flat worst FTL method available (at least at start). From what we have seen Warp travel is fairly quick and once you are in sector FTL us subbed for your thrusters. Since Hyperspace is limited to "Existing Paths along the network" I cant see how this would be a good idea especially if their are roundabout connections taking 3-4 logistical jumps to get the a area thats actually right next to you. This could make expansion in the early game extremely difficult. Also in late game Wormhole is a huge sacrifice. If your in an alliance or federation and need to jump have the map, you are out of luck because you are stuck with the range of your wormhole stations.
Can we receive more elaboration on how this is balanced?
I will have more questions after the next stream on thursday but would love to hear answers to the above... Or if I am just completely wrong I would LOve a correction just as well
Long time player of Europa 4 and recently been playing a bit of CK2. A friend told me about Stellaris so I went and watch the 3 hours we have on the Blorg playthrough that they are doing every Thursday. (If you want to see it go to https://www.twitch.tv/paradoxinteractive/profile)
I have a few questions and comments after having watched it 3 or 4 times now.
First off I would like to request that panda and wolf races be added to the mammalian Appearance choices... No specific reason, but they were what I immediately looked for when I went back to examine the difference species shown. Nice job on the variance btw, I think a lot of them look cool, and I laughed a lot at the Fungoid options. I would also like to request that during the next blorg video could you show what is under the PLANT subsection. It was never shown during the videos so far and I am a bit curious why that one is listed in all caps while the rest aren't...
Second, this is a pet peeve of mine in similar games, but in many games a race/player with a massive tech boost tends to be able to run away with the game. I noticed that the intelligent racial trait gives a flat 10% bonus to all research production as well as Natural engineers/physicists/sociologists Give 15% to their individual research generation. With 4 point maximum I foresee 25% in one and 10% in another with a negative in something along the lines of happiness like repugnant which is only a -1% to other species happiness. After this you take fanatic Materialist which gives you a 10% Research output to each category, making the current output +35%/+20%/+20%. Along with this your researchers all give a reduction to research time. For Government type you take Despotic Hegemony for a +5% to all research speed. In the video the starting scientists gave 2%/2%/7% as well as showing that a common early game research was Administrative AI giving a 5% research speed for the rest of the game. They also showed it was a common and possibly a weighted research choice since it appeared 3 out of 4 times before being chosen.
Meaning it is EASILY possible that 5 years into the game you have the following: Research production +35%/+20%/+20% and Research speed + 12%/12%/17%.
This is also without any character special abilities (which a 10% research speed was shown)...I feel that this is simply to much of an advantage against most other species/civilisations... Easily capable of a runaway tech build. Can we get a general answer to what balances the above tech build with other builds that are more about happiness or resources?
Third, It was mentioned that choosing your starting weapon is similar to rock paper scissors. However all ships start the game with just armor, no shields or point defence or other types of defences... As such energy weapons seem to be flat best early in the game from what we have seen. It would be nice to get a few more details showing how its a equal opportunity choice.
Fourth, I cant immagine how Hyperspace lanes are not the flat worst FTL method available (at least at start). From what we have seen Warp travel is fairly quick and once you are in sector FTL us subbed for your thrusters. Since Hyperspace is limited to "Existing Paths along the network" I cant see how this would be a good idea especially if their are roundabout connections taking 3-4 logistical jumps to get the a area thats actually right next to you. This could make expansion in the early game extremely difficult. Also in late game Wormhole is a huge sacrifice. If your in an alliance or federation and need to jump have the map, you are out of luck because you are stuck with the range of your wormhole stations.
Can we receive more elaboration on how this is balanced?
I will have more questions after the next stream on thursday but would love to hear answers to the above... Or if I am just completely wrong I would LOve a correction just as well
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