Stellaris is boring and tedious

[Ribalt]

I ended my last game where i tried going Ultrawide (extremly adaptive, energy-colonyships and immediatly the extra 10% habitability from that other Tradition)... After 50 years i had over 30 Planets whiteout any sectors (had 50% ressource Penalty - didn't matter couldn't spend my Minerals anyway)...
I stopped because my Hand started to hurt from the pure tediousness of building stuff on Planets...

 

[runrun]

I think that the real problem of stellaris is the level of intelligence of AI, the lack of interaction with empires AI and the bonuses or malus that it could generate.
- at commercial level, of common project, development of common culture between empires who cooperates together (as would religion in "civilization") with victories associated with it
This would make the mid-game more enjoyable.
- certain automation (to distinguish between civilian and military shipt), and to be able to establish a model of development, with cursors. Where it would be possible as an ultimate sovereign to make requests for particular constructions according to the priorities of the moment (decree Within the reach of the sector).
- add a strategic level on the military plane (autonomy, supply) ... trade way, embargo, blockade.

With these few "small" additions or changes, the impression to always repeating the same thing at each new game would largely decrease.

 

[Red192]

If you find boring stellaris then change it,

add a strategic level on the military plane (autonomy, supply) ... trade way, embargo, blockade.

See here for these things

 

[Meatkill34]

Agreed OP i only play when an update is out too see if the game has picked up. I only played for about 1 week after 1.6.1 again and was already got bored once federations popped up. The combat frustrated me so much that I don't even enjoy building fleets.

 

[durbal]

it's only boring if you look at it just like a board game, something to be 100% analytical about. It's a lot more interesting if you think of it as a story developing, in which you're telling the story of your race striking out to become (or attempt to become) the most powerful force in the galaxy.

What story is that? Everything feels the same. And acting like gameplay and roleplay are mutually exclusive is so wtf-odd that I don't even know where to begin. Having a better game would improve any experience whether the player prefers to use Excel or a Moleskine.

 

[Thrawn05]

Everyone has different tastes and different play styles. Some like to rush, some like to turtle. Some like to conquer, and others like to build. If the game doesn't suit your style find another one.

 

[Lexo]

Pros
1) has some good base mechanics and with the options the modding allows the game has potential like SE4 had to make some amazing mods.
2) The general overall map and systems are nice as well as the battles.

Cons
1) Only one victory mechanic which is war
2) Diplomacy is very very very shallow
3) no espionage
4) DLC is way way way overpriced. Sorry but you guys are starting to take the piss a bit.
5) Could do with much more internal empire mechanics. Keeping people happy is easy and the same with factions.
6) Trade is totaly pointless and well........sucks
7) Constantly bouncing between system and galaxy map sucks. Distant Worlds cracked this issue and i think he was solo.
8) Ship design is limited and very very very basic. Like my first Acorn Electron basic.
9) Energy and minerals make the economy so basic its just very very bad.
10) AI seems to be somewhat retarded and war is based on a very simple calculation. I havent done this yet but i bet i could calculate when the ration is right and they will attack.
11) Almost all wars are won in a single battle. Doom stack 1 attacks Doom stack 2 who ever has the highest score and isn't using missiles wins.

All that being said i like the game and i can feel the potential sitting there ready to come out. But if that requires another bunch of expensive DLC to make the game decent i wont be happy as the DLC is adding stuff that should be in their not adding bonus stuff. Think about when the diplo expansion comes out and it does some small fixes on the base diplo but you need to pay £15 bucks to get what should have been their from the start.

In CK2 you can get away with this more easy as there is nothing to compare it to rely. This game is measured on Distant Worlds, Endless Space 1+2, MOO, Gal Civ and a few others i forgot. I guess this response is realy for the Devs.

 

[ThePHD]

Like the above poster implied, the game could probably be fixed through expansions. The potential is there. It's just that no one wants to wait years for basic issues to be resolved. Or to shell out money on what will no doubt be a few dozen DLC at the end of the day.

 

[Dodge]

CK2 is roleplaying on a grandscale, you can generate Families of characters for 800 years, there is no equal on the market
Shame I don't dig the setting too much, if it was like, say a capitalist fortune 500's family through 800 years I'd be deadly keen

 

[GuildenSpur]

I can agree on a lot of what the OP said. But the things is, Stellaris allows you to take control. Use mods, mod some stuff yourself, play with some house rules or stick to a certain RP.
I usually play medium galaxies. Start a medium galaxy game, spiral, design some of the empires you want in the game, limit it to hyperlane, higher difficulty and you have a whole different game. I made my own mode to make the stations tougher because to me, it's insane that big 300+K fleets can enter a system but stations are tiny in comparison.
Really, a whole new type of game. Maybe it's because I used to play defensive end in football (and was D coördinator) and focus on D sometimes instead of offense.
You will allow the AI to gain ground (more so if you choose the right AI empires to be included in your game) making it tougher.
Don't reload the game if things go south is also a nice one.

And yes I do find Stellaris becomes partly boring after a while but only because I play it so much (1288 hrs) since the initial release.
That's an insane amount of time, at least to me. Insane.
But I always come back to it. Same as some Sid Meiers games like Colonization.
There is still a lot of work to do, but the community (mods) chances things up quite a bit. Try some of the AlphaAsh's mods, or total conversion mods.
If you still feel bored, restrain yourself from playing the game for 2 or 3 months (or longer) and then come back.
Try another game and see if it has the same vibe, style and potential of this game. Go play Colonization

 

[scaper12123]

What story is that? Everything feels the same. And acting like gameplay and roleplay are mutually exclusive is so wtf-odd that I don't even know where to begin. Having a better game would improve any experience whether the player prefers to use Excel or a Moleskine.

Just because everything's the same doesn't mean you have to act like it. Maybe it's just me, but I prefer deviating from the most efficient path if it means doing something that I think my race would do.

 

[Drowe]

Can someone please explain to me how someone who has played the game for several hundreds of hours can complain about the game being boring and tedious? Why would anyone spend that much of their free time doing something they don't enjoy? There are many other games out there they could be playing instead, there's GalCiv 3, there's Master of Orion, there's Distant Worlds, there's Endless Space and lots of other games, if those games are better, wouldn't it make more sense playing those than complaining about Stellaris being different?

And there is a certain type of players who do enjoy the game, who don't care about balance issues or weak AI. I'm not saying that there aren't things that are less than stellar, the criticism of the flaws are totally valid and understandable. But not everyone cares about those flaws enough to have it ruin the game for them. And that makes it an incorrect statement if someone says the game is boring/tedious/broken because that is making an subjective statement seem like an objective statement. To you it may be that way, and many do share your sentiment, but not everyone does.

 

[Mrakvampire]

If a game requires you to use mods to be fun, then it's a bad game. Sorry, guys.
As you may have noticed I'm a big fan of Paradox games overall, but Stellaris... Stellaris team just lost my trust completely. It is absolutely clear that Stellaris 1.0 was a mess of a game.
After a year of development, after 6 big patches we still have a boring, shallow and buggy game. Why? Cause this year has been used to change very bad design ideas of original 1.0 release to make them at least... at least more or less ok, but it is like trying to fix crumbling house that stands on bad foundation.

That is why I call Stellaris Early Access. It still has disastrous combat system, very bad and basic diplomacy, shallow and nearly nonexistant economy system and completely bland and uninspiring galaxy to explore after 1 playthrough.

And what do devs do? They prioritize multiplayer. Ooookay.
I've shelved Stellaris till late autumn. Maybe by that time something will be done, maybe next DLC/big patch will be awesome... But I doubt. Maybe it's just me, and I have wrong perception of situation, but it looks like that PDX understands that Stellaris, despite big initial sales, seems like a fail. I don't have Utopia sales figures, but I've noticed that majority of my Steam friends that bought Stellaris a year ago still haven't bought Utopia and even don't play it anymore (they play EU4 mainly).

And just compare speed of development of EU4 and Stellaris. EU4 got 2 or even 3 (if we count from april 2016) big DLCs and now is going to have another small DLC.
Stellaris got only small DLC (Leviathans) and a big DLC (Utopia). And EU4 is obviously in late stages of production cycle already, Stellaris has been released only 1 year ago.
It's obvious for me at least that Stellaris now is not considered a high priority by Paradox management.

 

[Garfazz Steamfang]

Pros
1) has some good base mechanics and with the options the modding allows the game has potential like SE4 had to make some amazing mods.
2) The general overall map and systems are nice as well as the battles.

Cons
1) Only one victory mechanic which is war
2) Diplomacy is very very very shallow
3) no espionage
4) DLC is way way way overpriced. Sorry but you guys are starting to take the piss a bit.
5) Could do with much more internal empire mechanics. Keeping people happy is easy and the same with factions.
6) Trade is totaly pointless and well........sucks
7) Constantly bouncing between system and galaxy map sucks. Distant Worlds cracked this issue and i think he was solo.
8) Ship design is limited and very very very basic. Like my first Acorn Electron basic.
9) Energy and minerals make the economy so basic its just very very bad.
10) AI seems to be somewhat retarded and war is based on a very simple calculation. I havent done this yet but i bet i could calculate when the ration is right and they will attack.
11) Almost all wars are won in a single battle. Doom stack 1 attacks Doom stack 2 who ever has the highest score and isn't using missiles wins.

All that being said i like the game and i can feel the potential sitting there ready to come out. But if that requires another bunch of expensive DLC to make the game decent i wont be happy as the DLC is adding stuff that should be in their not adding bonus stuff. Think about when the diplo expansion comes out and it does some small fixes on the base diplo but you need to pay £15 bucks to get what should have been their from the start.

In CK2 you can get away with this more easy as there is nothing to compare it to rely. This game is measured on Distant Worlds, Endless Space 1+2, MOO, Gal Civ and a few others i forgot. I guess this response is realy for the Devs.

You pretty summed it all. But i think you can add:
- Broken End game crisis (nice idea but feel very lackluster)
- Pre FTL civilization are just here for being here (again quite unique mechanic but you can't interract much with them and they don't really have flavor)
- Too much random research (waiting years for having the right weapon/shield tech is just awfull and much more coz you're only way of playing is war)
- Ethos feel to much the same (you don't really have unique playstyles)
- Terraformation is weird (gene modding remplace terraformation, not good system etc... it's just a shiny and useless feature)
-FTL travel need balance and rework

(Yes that's a lot of cons)

Stellaris can become a nice game in some years and a LOT of efforts putted in. But i will ask, why are we going to play that game when you have 4x like MOO or ES 2 that are much more fleshed and much more cheaper? (Stellaris+plantoids+utopia+leviathan=80/90 euros when MOO or ES are 40)

 

[AlphaAsh]

- Too much random research (waiting years for having the right weapon/shield tech is just awfull and much more coz you're only way of playing is war)

I've been trialing a mod for this. Each tech group breaks down into sub-categories, so what the mod does is allow you to select which of those categories gets priority. This greatly increases the weighting on that category and reduces others.

What's held me back from releasing it is the excessive modding of the tech files needed and no way to do a decent interface for the feature. Empire edicts is butt ugly. And event dialog is equally as butt ugly.

 

[Dodge]

Nah
Early access is when you see c++ debug messages like es2 alpha
Stellaris... doesn't crash, it burns

 

[Lexo]

To be fair if they are dropping the priority of this game they need to open up the moding options. At least that way the community can work on it further if Paradox does not. I would prefer they just fixed the game which shouldn't be buckled one year after release.

 

[Beagá]

11) Almost all wars are won in a single battle. Doom stack 1 attacks Doom stack 2 who ever has the highest score and isn't using missiles wins.

.

This is a painful truth. I did a run in this version with missiles for the lulz, and lost BAD to a fleet with equal power...

Stellaris can become a nice game in some years and a LOT of efforts putted in. But i will ask, why are we going to play that game when you have 4x like MOO or ES 2 that are much more fleshed and much more cheaper? (Stellaris+plantoids+utopia+leviathan=80/90 euros when MOO or ES are 40)

Last MOO is a turd compared to Stellaris. Don´t make me laugh.

 

[Mauer]

I have to agree, I always play pacifist for the very reason that war just feels like a chore, but after a few runs with whatever new content comes out that also starts getting boring. Well, I usually keep the game running while I'm working on something somewhat tedious so I can check in every now and then.

I think multiplayer would be different, but I can't really commit to a schedule for that and I think it's the same for most people.

 

[Nippleworthy]

This whole game just feels like one long tedious chore and I'm sick of it! The honeymoon is over and the marriage is setting in...This game is fundamentally vapid and shallow and I need something more stimulating than what is on offer. Peace!

It's called boredom.

(Maybe you should buy another game and alternating with it?)