Space Combat

[SYahoo]

In Quill18's last Stellaris stream (last because he isn't doing anymore) he mentions how poor the combat system is in this game. He begins by saying that the beginning game is awesome and so much fun and then it just boils down to "my stack is bigger than your stack, I win" and you get to land armies on their planets. Rinse and repeat, which is not very engaging gameplay at all.

I'm with him and shelving this title until something is done about the combat system. Stellaris is space-battles game, and not much else, and the space battles part is extremely boring and lacks any creativity whatsoever.

Are there any plans to flesh out the combat system and create a tactical battle where ships can be given specific orders (similar to the Total War series perhaps)?

 

[I am Sovereign]

In Quill18's last Stellaris stream (last because he isn't doing anymore) he mentions how poor the combat system is in this game. He begins by saying that the beginning game is awesome and so much fun and then it just boils down to "my stack is bigger than your stack, I win" and you get to land armies on their planets. Rinse and repeat, which is not very engaging gameplay at all.

I'm with him and shelving this title until something is done about the combat system. Stellaris is space-battles game, and not much else, and the space battles part is extremely boring and lacks any creativity whatsoever.

Are there any plans to flesh out the combat system and create a tactical battle where ships can be given specific orders (similar to the Total War series perhaps)?

Stellaris in a nutshell.


Devs know about this issue but they struggling finding a good solution.

 

[Alblaka]

Stellaris is space-battles game, and not much else

Stellaris isn't supposed to be a space-battle game, but a space empire building sim. Just that the latter part isn't fleshed out enough to be recognizeable by itself.

That said, space combat will need flore fleshing out as well, because, as quill and you correctly said, the first win between doomstacks determines the outcome of the war. Always.
I've made a lengthy concept suggestion about that, feel free to check it out in my signature (the Fleet Logistics one).

 

[prismaticmarcus]

In Quill18's last Stellaris stream (last because he isn't doing anymore) he mentions how poor the combat system is in this game. He begins by saying that the beginning game is awesome and so much fun and then it just boils down to "my stack is bigger than your stack, I win" and you get to land armies on their planets. Rinse and repeat, which is not very engaging gameplay at all.

I'm with him and shelving this title until something is done about the combat system. Stellaris is space-battles game, and not much else, and the space battles part is extremely boring and lacks any creativity whatsoever.

Are there any plans to flesh out the combat system and create a tactical battle where ships can be given specific orders (similar to the Total War series perhaps)?

i think you'll find that Stellaris will become a political/diplomatic game with space opera elements. warfare/combat won't be the major part of it.

 

[Losttruppen]

i think you'll find that Stellaris will become a political/diplomatic game with space opera elements. warfare/combat won't be the major part of it.

If that is the case they should strongly reconsider its direction. There is a reason Stellaris is one of Paradox's highest selling games and that all the other great games they make are comprised of a smaller dedicated playerbase. High strategy such as in CK, HoI, and EU is intimidating to the average gamer and fills a niche market, and with Stellaris they broke the mold and transferred something of the scale of these games and put it in a nice, pretty, easy to execute package. Making Stellaris more like their other games will alienate players and dilute the thing that makes this title unique, its accessibility.

 

[nicochrish]

If that is the case they should strongly reconsider its direction. There is a reason Stellaris is one of Paradox's highest selling games and that all the other great games they make are comprised of a smaller dedicated playerbase. High strategy such as in CK, HoI, and EU is intimidating to the average gamer and fills a niche market, and with Stellaris they broke the mold and transferred something of the scale of these games and put it in a nice, pretty, easy to execute package. Making Stellaris more like their other games will alienate players and dilute the thing that makes this title unique, its accessibility.

Nah, catering to mediocrity is bad business for a company like Paradox that has a strong precedent of achieving the opposite in a market where it is extremely difficult to do so.

 

[DukeLeto42]

Seeing as I've now brought several wars against an AFE by stalling them with single ship distractions until the length of war modifier gives me a peace option, as it stands tactics still need work, but are certainly relevant when combating the AI. Player wars probably (though I have no personal experience) are a little more doomstack v doomstack, because they can't be distracted by small fleets.

 

[prismaticmarcus]

If that is the case they should strongly reconsider its direction. There is a reason Stellaris is one of Paradox's highest selling games and that all the other great games they make are comprised of a smaller dedicated playerbase. High strategy such as in CK, HoI, and EU is intimidating to the average gamer and fills a niche market, and with Stellaris they broke the mold and transferred something of the scale of these games and put it in a nice, pretty, easy to execute package. Making Stellaris more like their other games will alienate players and dilute the thing that makes this title unique, its accessibility.

i personally actually find tactical combat intimidating. i never use the ship designer...i know this isn't about me, but different gamers are into different things and you'll never have a game that appeals to everyone, regardless of whether it's simple or complex.

 

[ORCACommander]

since we are dealing with hundreds of ships in any given fleet its kind of hard to expect Homeworld Level of control for a fleet action unfortunately. Sadly naval combat in this game is largely an iteration of army stacks from EU 4. composition has a bit more depth but its not much of a factor against the AI

 

[I_am_Nemo]

A tactical battle system like total war /really/ would not fit well into Stellaris. Unless multiplayer games wanted to pause the action for everybody else while two warring players fought out a battle, the battles would have to occur directly in the regular system map. Even if battles were less of a blob, it would still be near impossible to give intelligent orders to individual ships when each side has 1k of fleet power; would be too many ships, too little time, even on normal speed. Never mind the fact that multiple battles could occur simultaneously, requiring you to split your attention, zoom in and out, etc. There's a reason Total War is turn based. . .

But it would be very nice to see more to be done on a strategic level. The issue there is not only designing a system that rewards split fleets & maneuver, but making it one the AI can handle as well.

 

[JohnSheridan]

The diplomatic / empire building sim is an important part in stellaris.

I also like the choice-based events, could be more thought.

I´d also like to point out that every aspect of the game is complex (as it should be) with the exception of the war system.

I really do wish that space battle became at least a bit more interesting / tacitcal.

Maybe:
- choosing maneuvers
- making doomstack battles take much longer, so that smaller fleet have a chance to conquer some planets
- An Intelligence / Sabotage system to be added in peace and/or wartimes. Maybe spys can turn a a battle around, to a surpising end
- You name it

 

[Huck Sunbh]

i think you'll find that Stellaris will become a political/diplomatic game with space opera elements. warfare/combat won't be the major part of it.

I believe this to be entirely untrue, as the game has a vast focus on military tech and customization, as well as the way the game not only includes xenophobic play styles devoided of diplomacy, but ,as seen in the last dev diary, is also encouraging it.

 

[Alblaka]

I believe this to be entirely untrue, as the game has a vast focus on military tech and customization, as well as the way the game not only includes xenophobic play styles devoided of diplomacy, but ,as seen in the last dev diary, is also encouraging it.

Yes, but even then the focus lays on planning your next war, slipping through alliances by utilizing diplomacy and timing, whilst creating a strong independent exonomy with according expansion that doesn'T rely on migration & treaties.
I did finish a xenophobe run just last week, and I feel confident to say that the actual war and fighting was one of the smaller parts of it.

 

[Huck Sunbh]

Yes, but even then the focus lays on planning your next war, slipping through alliances by utilizing diplomacy and timing, whilst creating a strong independent exonomy with according expansion that doesn'T rely on migration & treaties.
I did finish a xenophobe run just last week, and I feel confident to say that the actual war and fighting was one of the smaller parts of it.

Slipping between alliances and timing war is the most minuscule amount of diplomacy. Arguably not even to be considered diplomacy, but rather macro-tactics.
I doubt war was one of the smaller parts of it, since after the mid-game the only expansion is purely through war. Hell, as a xenophobe the only reason you would ever even look at other empires is to declare war, or check if they are weak enough to declare war.

I'm sorry but there is no possible way you played a xenophobe with such disregard to war as to call it "one of the smaller parts". Were you by any chance playing as an isolationist with little to no intervention in the galaxy after the mid-game ?

 

[Alblaka]

I'm sorry but there is no possible way you played a xenophobe with such disregard to war as to call it "one of the smaller parts".

You simply need to understand that if your fleet is as large as the entire rest of the galaxy combined, you mostly spend time teching and economizing in truces, because each war boils down to a 2-year stomp with no challenge or even fleet losses.

 

[I am Sovereign]

You simply need to understand that if your fleet is as large as the entire rest of the galaxy combined, you mostly spend time teching and economizing in truces, because each war boils down to a 2-year stomp with no challenge or even fleet losses.

Which is a sad thing. And I hope wars become more challenging and more fun one day.

 

[Losttruppen]

Nah, catering to mediocrity is bad business for a company like Paradox that has a strong precedent of achieving the opposite in a market where it is extremely difficult to do so.

Mediocrity is the current state of warfare in Stellaris, catering to politics/diplomacy is the wrong direction at the moment for a game where military prowess is absolutely necessary not to get doomstacked by your neighbours in the first 20 years on anything above Normal(easy). Until warfare is fixed, the core of this game will be broken. You cannot face the mid or end game crises with diplomacy, and while it would be cool in the future to join with an Unbidden faction, or get integrated into the swarm, in its current state the only way to face these challenges is with war and war is currently bland.

 

[I am Sovereign]

Mediocrity is the current state of warfare in Stellaris, catering to politics/diplomacy is the wrong direction at the moment for a game where military prowess is absolutely necessary not to get doomstacked by your neighbours in the first 20 years on anything above Normal(easy). Until warfare is fixed, the core of this game will be broken. You cannot face the mid or end game crises with diplomacy, and while it would be cool in the future to join with an Unbidden faction, or get integrated into the swarm, in its current state the only way to face these challenges is with war and war is currently bland.

So the only part of the game which is fleshed out is actually pretty bland and mediocre.

oh man Stellaris realy has some serious issues.

 

[SYahoo]

Even if the ship builder had the options:
1. Get in Close
2. Stay at Shortest Weapon Range
3. Stay at Longest Weapon Range
4. Don't Engage