Returning player

[Barriott]

Hey hey hey. I recently booted stellaris back up on the console and Im have a great time. I have season 1 pass and I'm thinking about getting the next 3. I've already noticed some fairly MASSIVE changes.
Got a couple of questions. How does the base game deal with all the expansions. I've noticed in my game I have access to the new federations and galactic senate mechanics but they are paid updates. Which I haven't yet bought.
Is there a cheaper way of getting all the content? I have games pass but decided to buy season 1 pass. Buying the next 3 will be £60. Ouch. I mean. They obviously deserve the money but I went to see dune last night for a £5. £60 seems alot. Can I fudge it somehow?

 

[Betrayed Talion]

Some of the DLC can really add some fun features, what I would do is wait for the season passes to go on sale, they might do a black Friday sale or some type of Christmas one. This is not guaranteed, but I would still wait. Hope this helps!

 

[MordridBlack]

Hey hey hey. I recently booted stellaris back up on the console and Im have a great time. I have season 1 pass and I'm thinking about getting the next 3. I've already noticed some fairly MASSIVE changes.
Got a couple of questions. How does the base game deal with all the expansions. I've noticed in my game I have access to the new federations and galactic senate mechanics but they are paid updates. Which I haven't yet bought.
Is there a cheaper way of getting all the content? I have games pass but decided to buy season 1 pass. Buying the next 3 will be £60. Ouch. I mean. They obviously deserve the money but I went to see dune last night for a £5. £60 seems alot. Can I fudge it somehow?

The answers to your questions:

So the way to look at DLC effecting the games is in two parts. The first is the free/general access updates that come along. These are parts of the DLC which are available to all players, regardless of whether they own the DLC. In the case of Federations DLC we got some of the gameplay mechanics that came with that update because they effected the game as a whole [Ex: The Federation system and some of the new Federation types]. The second is the content that is DLC exclusive. These are the remaining parts of the DLC which aren't active for the player without having the DLC or playing a multiplayer game where the host owns the DLC (barring cosmetic DLC such as Plantoids) [Ex: The Juggernaut Ship Type requires Federations DLC to be researched].

Gamepass is one of the few ways to get the content cheaper. But on specific occasions the DLC will go on sale...whether that also stacks together with the Gamepass discount I don't remember as I have always bought the Passes as soon as I was able to. You have have temporary access to DLC (again barring cosmetic DLC) in multiplayer games where the host has the DLC in question, beyond that though; the only other way to "fudge" the price is if you happen to have a friend who owns the DLC and is willing to do what is known as a License Share with you. License Sharing works for most games; where as long as it is in effect, both the person who actually owns the account, and the person they are sharing with have any games/dlc bought on the first account.