Stellaris

[Martok]

The game seems to be cheating now.  I keep getting sandwiched right next to two other empires right off the bat even when I turn clustered start off and they're already colonizing their 3rd planet by the time I've researched a colony ship and I'm playing as science weenies.

I've been suffering from similar ill-luck with my starting position lately.  (Settings:  1000-star elliptical galaxy, 39 AI empires, no advanced starts, max Fallen Empires, unclustered starting positions.)  It's getting a little frustrating. 

In my most recent game (where I started on the galaxy's northern edge), I discovered a normal empire to my southeast after having explored just 8 star systems...and shortly ran into a Fallen Empire immediately to my west.  Just like that, I had nowhere to expand.  :( 

[Barthheart]

Well, with 39 empires in 1000 stars, that's only about 50 stars each. No wonder your running into people so early.

[solops]

OK. I want to like this game, but the biggest stumbling block is the game's inept handling of Sector management. Increasing the number of core systems to 500+ fixes that problem, sort of, but make large games tedious. The contributors to this thread are obvious Stellaris players, so tell me: How do YOU guys deal with sectors?

I need something to do until Civ6 is fixed. If not this then I guess its back to Polaris Sector, Red Storm and or Barbarossa.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I micro them.  Once I get to the point where the purple resource (influence?/prestige?) isn't an issue, I'll trade control of sectors so I can build planets up how I like.  Then I hand it back to the AI with orders to respect tile resources/builds.

[Kushan]

OK. I want to like this game, but the biggest stumbling block is the game's inept handling of Sector management. Increasing the number of core systems to 500+ fixes that problem, sort of, but make large games tedious. The contributors to this thread are obvious Stellaris players, so tell me: How do YOU guys deal with sectors?

I need something to do until Civ6 is fixed. If not this then I guess its back to Polaris Sector, Red Storm and or Barbarossa.

I micro them.  Once I get to the point where the purple resource (influence?/prestige?) isn't an issue, I'll trade control of sectors so I can build planets up how I like.  Then I hand it back to the AI with orders to respect tile resources/builds.

I don't see why everyone hates them so much other then they don't seem to actually build anything. I get around that by doing the same thing as SDR. Really looking forward to when Paradox makes sectors matter a little more. Remember hearing about some of their plans for sectors leading up to release and looks like only a small part of it made the initial release.

[mikeck]

OK. I want to like this game, but the biggest stumbling block is the game's inept handling of Sector management. Increasing the number of core systems to 500+ fixes that problem, sort of, but make large games tedious. The contributors to this thread are obvious Stellaris players, so tell me: How do YOU guys deal with sectors?

I need something to do until Civ6 is fixed. If not this then I guess its back to Polaris Sector, Red Storm and or Barbarossa.

I think the key is to get the planets going on your own and then turn it over at some point with instructions. You can't just newly colonize and then hand it over because the AI  seems to have trouble prioritizing development.

So what to do:
Keep control of  A group of colonies until you build up everything you want to build up on the planet. Once you get a group of planets where everything is built up then create a sector and assign it to a governor. The key thing though is in the "sector creation"  screen you need to check the box that says something like "will not replace buildings with other buildings "..or whatever.  You're basically telling the sector governor "don't destroy anything I've built." You can also set how much energy and how many minerals you were sent from the sector so there's very little discussion for the AI.

So in the end if a planet is fully developed you don't really need to do anything concerning micro.

I have found that even substantially building up and then instructing the sector governor to only build things on the appropriate squares ( Power plant on squares producing electricity in the like) works.  they generally do OK. You have to use those checkboxes to give him some guidance.  As far as resources in the solar system I found the sector AI to be pretty good at building stations with the leftover stuff

[solops]

OK, reasonable answers, about what I expected. Thanks. What about recent claims that the Sector AI dismantles "happiness" buildings, leading to unrest. Mikeck, does your methodiology (a lot like methodology, but longer...) prevent that?

[mikeck]

OK, reasonable answers, about what I expected. Thanks. What about recent claims that the Sector AI dismantles "happiness" buildings, leading to unrest. Mikeck, does your methodiology (a lot like methodology, but longer...) prevent that?

I'm just starting  my first game after the new 1.3 patch so I don't know if it's changed...but last I played, in that sector creation screen, you can check a box that prohibits the AI from destroying ANY buildings.

I agree that in the past the sector governor AI has been bad. So the answer is to not give it much choice. Frankly, after you've built everything, there isn't a whole lot to do anyway but I believe the AI will update buildings for you so that's helpful

[ghostryder]

I mod them out. the A.I. is just too horrendous with them. To cut down on micromanaging I use the auto upgrade mod that automatically upgrades buildings. With this mod it's really not an issue after the planet is full of pops.

[solops]

I mod them out. the A.I. is just too horrendous with them. To cut down on micromanaging I use the auto upgrade mod that automatically upgrades buildings. With this mod it's really not an issue after the planet is full of pops.

This sounds promising, too. I need to find that mod. Do you have a link or the exact name for the Workshop search?

[ghostryder]

Sorry for the slow response. been working. :(

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=691008512  ---- The auto build mod --- hasn't been updated for Heinlein but appears to work fine.


Also here's a couple good race mods that are not available on the workshop.

http://www.loverslab.com/topic/64963-stellaris-elves-of-stellaris/    -- Space Elves. Well done.

http://www.loverslab.com/topic/64968-stellaris-drow-of-stellaris/ ---Drow. --- does work with Space Elves

http://www.loverslab.com/topic/66779-stellaris-the-asari-civilisation/   -- This one just appeared on the workshop but it originated here. Asari--- so many variants no pop will look the same.

I generally want humanoid races in my game so any source --even if elves or Drow-is preferrable to talking hamspters to me.

[Martok]

So new free DLC, Horizon Signal, is now available: 

Also, the 1.4 "Kennedy" update dropped today.  Patch notes: 

[spoiler]###################
# Leviathans Story Pack
###################
* Added new introduction event for the Artisan Troupe
* Added encounter event for the Enigmatic Fortress

###################
# Features
###################
* Added 33 new achievements
* No longer possible to build robots on planets belonging to sectors
* Added victory event after defeating the Prethoryn Scourge
* Added new events for discovering additional Precursor anomalies, so that the quest chains can always be completed
* Changed the way the Extradimensionals work: Instead of spawning reinforcements as soon as a fleet is lost, the Extradimensional portal will create new fleets at a fixed rate depending on the number of dimensional anchors the Extradimensionals have placed in the galaxy. Dimensional anchors are a type of station that the Extradimensionals construct, and their main portal is invincible while any dimensional anchors exist in the galaxy. This should make the war against the Extradimensionals more of a long-term fight and less of a surgical strike against the portal.

###################
# Balance
###################

#General
* Evasion is now capped at 90%
* Ship mineral maintenance reduced from 0.5% to 0.4% of ship cost
* Ship energy maintenance reduced from 0.5% to 0.4% of ship cost
* Afterburners now use the auxiliary slot
* Regular empires now start with 8 pops
* Primitive farms and factories can now be upgraded directly to hydroponics farms/mining networks
* Pirate ships have been reworked slightly and buffed in most cases
* Primitives are now consistent in how many pops, farms and factories they get on each age of development, and get new pops, armies and buildings when advancing through the ages
* Stone age primitives now generate fewer tile blockers
* Space Torpedoes technology now requires Fusion Missiles instead of Nuclear Missiles
* Venerable trait cost reduced from 5 to 4
* Mineral Silos are now restricted to 1 per planet
* Increased max minerals from Mineral Silos from +1000/+1500/+2000 to +2000/+3000/+4000
* Level 3 mineral silo now only provides +1 mineral per adjacent tile
* Increased protectorate tech discount to 95%
* Protectorates can no longer conduct independent diplomacy
* Repeatable technologies have their base cost increased from 1500 to 3000 and their increasing cost increased from 480 to 1000
* Slave Processing Plant now gives +10% slave food/mineral production instead of +5%
* Reduced spawn odds of tomb worlds
* Increased frequency of alien pet deposits
* Reduced warscore costs for planetary and vassalisation wargoals
* Doubled Pre-Sentient Anomaly spawn chances
* Fixed CTD when generating a certain tooltip while the player has no planets
* Pops are no longer upset if an occupier purges Pops on one of your planets

# Components
* Space Torpedo mineral cost reduced from 20 to 10
* Space Torpedo power usage reduced from 20 to 10
* Space Torpedo maximum damage reduced from 260 to 215
* Space Torpedo armor penetration set to 50%
* Armored Torpedo mineral cost reduced from 40 to 15
* Armored Torpedo power usage reduced from 40 to 15
* Armored Torpedo damage reduced from 150-300 to 140-280
* Armored Torpedo armor penetration set to 50%
* Devastator Torpedo mineral cost reduced from 60 to 20
* Devastator Torpedo power usage reduced from 60 to 20
* Devastator Torpedo armor penetration set to 50%
* Devastator Torpedo missile HP reduced from 8 to 6

###################
# AI
###################

#War
* Federation AI is now better at picking wargoals for non-conqueror federations, will focus on retaking planets and liberating larger countries

#Sector
* Major work done to sector AI to make it better at budgeting and utilizing resources

#Diplomacy
* AI will now sometimes gift countries that are at war with their rivals and threats
* AI will no longer ask you to become their vassal multiple times in a row
* AI is now less keen to accept a lot of defensive pacts
* Slowed down AI requests for federation membership/association status to prevent message spam

#Misc
* Fixed a bug where AI would send fleets to deal with pirates, only to retreat due to pirates being stronger
* Fixed a bug where AI was trying to build buildings on tiles that had presentients on them

###################
# User Interface
###################
* Added a setting to disable all auto-unpausing from popups
* Clicking on some resource icons in top bar no longer opens tabs due to being inconsistent
* Construction Ship now sends notification 'fleet order finished' only when the last construction in the queue is finished
* Planet view colonize button opens same surface view window as when planet is clicked from expansion planner
* 'Closed Borders' and 'Truce' are shown as diplomatic statuses

###################
# Bugfixes
###################
* Garrisons are now properly shown and spawned on occupied worlds.
* Fleets will now prioritize spaceports and military stations over other stations (such as mining stations) in combat.
* Close borders wargoal now forces borders open for the duration of the truce regardless of rivalry status, etc.
* Garrisons are now properly shown and spawned on occupied worlds.
* Fleets will now prioritize spaceports and military stations over other stations (such as mining stations) in combat.
* Ships and weapon components targeting logic now correctly accounts for evasion, so large weapons are much less likely to target corvettes etc
* Fixed armor absorbing too much damage if the ship also had shields left
* Fixed very high armor values negating the effects of armor penetration
* Fixed auto generated ship designs getting wrong combat computers
* Swarm units have had their sound volume adjusted
* Spaceport no longer provide Naval Capacity while under construction
* Fleet view shows current fleet activity instead of order description
* Vassals and overlords no longer gives sensor to each other while at war
* Sector AI will spend own resources instead of players resources when upgrading spaceports
* Uplift species button is locked if no species can be found on any owned planet
* Fixed a bug where some leaders could live forever
* Planets with Stone Age Primitives will no longer generate Anomalies
* Tzynn Empire now starts with the proper number of trait points
* Fixed Nomads getting wrong opinion modifier and habitability trait when allowed to settle on a planet
* Launcher MOD tab scrollbar appears with correct position and size when content overflows container
* Fixed a rare case of portrait duplication caused by prescripted species templates
* Fixed so that NPC ship designs now correctly have PD slots for their PD weapons
* Situation Log entry list of counters grows up instead of down
* Savannah and Alpine worlds now have proper localization in the start screen
* Fixed typo in Frontier Hospital technology description
* Fixed a bug where upgrade fleet progress could display numbers above 100%
* Fixed some outdated hotkey references in tutorial texts
* Fixed frantic twitching animation in diplomacy window for main species
* Fixed reversed fanatic/militarist bonus to rivalry influence
* Fixed some potential event spam when running on high speeds during War in Heaven
* Planet edict modifiers are applied to pops again. Use planet modifier categories when applying planet edict modifiers
* Fixed Continental, Savanna and Alpine worlds not being used for primitive civs
* Enclave governments now get a new ruler when the first one dies
* Primitives that nuke themselves will no longer leave pops on a tomb world where they have no habitability
* Fixed some ships getting stuck in a looping death animation
* Fixed CTD when looking at a ship that fired a shot during the same frame as it died
* Fixed CTD that could happen if ground combat was started on a planet without owner
* Garrison from Pops will no longer spawn on planets that have already been occupied
* Fixed CTD that could happen when assigning a new mission to an observation station
* Fixed various issues with Swarm behaviour


###################
# Graphics
###################
* Tweaked humanoid 02 and 05 portraits
* Added updated clothes textures
* Added fixed clothes for humanoid 05
* Arthropoid battleships sections now all line up
* Galaxy view textures have been updated.
* Extradimensionals' death effects have been updated.


###################
# Modding
###################
* Event chain counter max = -1 means max is ignored. Default value is -1
* Added count_countries trigger
* Script trigger pop_percentage = { percentage > 0.1 limit = { is_robot_pop = yes } }
* new trigger won_with_condition = domination_victory
* Added trigger num_strategic_resources


###################
# Performance
###################
* Misc performance improvements[/spoiler]


As expected, this one's a smaller update, focusing more on balancing and bug fixing, although there are the usual various minor features and QOL improvements added as well. 

[Rayfer]

So new free DLC, Horizon Signal, is now available: 

Also, the 1.4 "Kennedy" update dropped today.  Patch notes: 

[spoiler]###################
# Leviathans Story Pack
###################
* Added new introduction event for the Artisan Troupe
* Added encounter event for the Enigmatic Fortress

###################
# Features
###################
* Added 33 new achievements
* No longer possible to build robots on planets belonging to sectors
* Added victory event after defeating the Prethoryn Scourge
* Added new events for discovering additional Precursor anomalies, so that the quest chains can always be completed
* Changed the way the Extradimensionals work: Instead of spawning reinforcements as soon as a fleet is lost, the Extradimensional portal will create new fleets at a fixed rate depending on the number of dimensional anchors the Extradimensionals have placed in the galaxy. Dimensional anchors are a type of station that the Extradimensionals construct, and their main portal is invincible while any dimensional anchors exist in the galaxy. This should make the war against the Extradimensionals more of a long-term fight and less of a surgical strike against the portal.

###################
# Balance
###################

#General
* Evasion is now capped at 90%
* Ship mineral maintenance reduced from 0.5% to 0.4% of ship cost
* Ship energy maintenance reduced from 0.5% to 0.4% of ship cost
* Afterburners now use the auxiliary slot
* Regular empires now start with 8 pops
* Primitive farms and factories can now be upgraded directly to hydroponics farms/mining networks
* Pirate ships have been reworked slightly and buffed in most cases
* Primitives are now consistent in how many pops, farms and factories they get on each age of development, and get new pops, armies and buildings when advancing through the ages
* Stone age primitives now generate fewer tile blockers
* Space Torpedoes technology now requires Fusion Missiles instead of Nuclear Missiles
* Venerable trait cost reduced from 5 to 4
* Mineral Silos are now restricted to 1 per planet
* Increased max minerals from Mineral Silos from +1000/+1500/+2000 to +2000/+3000/+4000
* Level 3 mineral silo now only provides +1 mineral per adjacent tile
* Increased protectorate tech discount to 95%
* Protectorates can no longer conduct independent diplomacy
* Repeatable technologies have their base cost increased from 1500 to 3000 and their increasing cost increased from 480 to 1000
* Slave Processing Plant now gives +10% slave food/mineral production instead of +5%
* Reduced spawn odds of tomb worlds
* Increased frequency of alien pet deposits
* Reduced warscore costs for planetary and vassalisation wargoals
* Doubled Pre-Sentient Anomaly spawn chances
* Fixed CTD when generating a certain tooltip while the player has no planets
* Pops are no longer upset if an occupier purges Pops on one of your planets

# Components
* Space Torpedo mineral cost reduced from 20 to 10
* Space Torpedo power usage reduced from 20 to 10
* Space Torpedo maximum damage reduced from 260 to 215
* Space Torpedo armor penetration set to 50%
* Armored Torpedo mineral cost reduced from 40 to 15
* Armored Torpedo power usage reduced from 40 to 15
* Armored Torpedo damage reduced from 150-300 to 140-280
* Armored Torpedo armor penetration set to 50%
* Devastator Torpedo mineral cost reduced from 60 to 20
* Devastator Torpedo power usage reduced from 60 to 20
* Devastator Torpedo armor penetration set to 50%
* Devastator Torpedo missile HP reduced from 8 to 6

###################
# AI
###################

#War
* Federation AI is now better at picking wargoals for non-conqueror federations, will focus on retaking planets and liberating larger countries

#Sector
* Major work done to sector AI to make it better at budgeting and utilizing resources

#Diplomacy
* AI will now sometimes gift countries that are at war with their rivals and threats
* AI will no longer ask you to become their vassal multiple times in a row
* AI is now less keen to accept a lot of defensive pacts
* Slowed down AI requests for federation membership/association status to prevent message spam

#Misc
* Fixed a bug where AI would send fleets to deal with pirates, only to retreat due to pirates being stronger
* Fixed a bug where AI was trying to build buildings on tiles that had presentients on them

###################
# User Interface
###################
* Added a setting to disable all auto-unpausing from popups
* Clicking on some resource icons in top bar no longer opens tabs due to being inconsistent
* Construction Ship now sends notification 'fleet order finished' only when the last construction in the queue is finished
* Planet view colonize button opens same surface view window as when planet is clicked from expansion planner
* 'Closed Borders' and 'Truce' are shown as diplomatic statuses

###################
# Bugfixes
###################
* Garrisons are now properly shown and spawned on occupied worlds.
* Fleets will now prioritize spaceports and military stations over other stations (such as mining stations) in combat.
* Close borders wargoal now forces borders open for the duration of the truce regardless of rivalry status, etc.
* Garrisons are now properly shown and spawned on occupied worlds.
* Fleets will now prioritize spaceports and military stations over other stations (such as mining stations) in combat.
* Ships and weapon components targeting logic now correctly accounts for evasion, so large weapons are much less likely to target corvettes etc
* Fixed armor absorbing too much damage if the ship also had shields left
* Fixed very high armor values negating the effects of armor penetration
* Fixed auto generated ship designs getting wrong combat computers
* Swarm units have had their sound volume adjusted
* Spaceport no longer provide Naval Capacity while under construction
* Fleet view shows current fleet activity instead of order description
* Vassals and overlords no longer gives sensor to each other while at war
* Sector AI will spend own resources instead of players resources when upgrading spaceports
* Uplift species button is locked if no species can be found on any owned planet
* Fixed a bug where some leaders could live forever
* Planets with Stone Age Primitives will no longer generate Anomalies
* Tzynn Empire now starts with the proper number of trait points
* Fixed Nomads getting wrong opinion modifier and habitability trait when allowed to settle on a planet
* Launcher MOD tab scrollbar appears with correct position and size when content overflows container
* Fixed a rare case of portrait duplication caused by prescripted species templates
* Fixed so that NPC ship designs now correctly have PD slots for their PD weapons
* Situation Log entry list of counters grows up instead of down
* Savannah and Alpine worlds now have proper localization in the start screen
* Fixed typo in Frontier Hospital technology description
* Fixed a bug where upgrade fleet progress could display numbers above 100%
* Fixed some outdated hotkey references in tutorial texts
* Fixed frantic twitching animation in diplomacy window for main species
* Fixed reversed fanatic/militarist bonus to rivalry influence
* Fixed some potential event spam when running on high speeds during War in Heaven
* Planet edict modifiers are applied to pops again. Use planet modifier categories when applying planet edict modifiers
* Fixed Continental, Savanna and Alpine worlds not being used for primitive civs
* Enclave governments now get a new ruler when the first one dies
* Primitives that nuke themselves will no longer leave pops on a tomb world where they have no habitability
* Fixed some ships getting stuck in a looping death animation
* Fixed CTD when looking at a ship that fired a shot during the same frame as it died
* Fixed CTD that could happen if ground combat was started on a planet without owner
* Garrison from Pops will no longer spawn on planets that have already been occupied
* Fixed CTD that could happen when assigning a new mission to an observation station
* Fixed various issues with Swarm behaviour


###################
# Graphics
###################
* Tweaked humanoid 02 and 05 portraits
* Added updated clothes textures
* Added fixed clothes for humanoid 05
* Arthropoid battleships sections now all line up
* Galaxy view textures have been updated.
* Extradimensionals' death effects have been updated.


###################
# Modding
###################
* Event chain counter max = -1 means max is ignored. Default value is -1
* Added count_countries trigger
* Script trigger pop_percentage = { percentage > 0.1 limit = { is_robot_pop = yes } }
* new trigger won_with_condition = domination_victory
* Added trigger num_strategic_resources


###################
# Performance
###################
* Misc performance improvements[/spoiler]


As expected, this one's a smaller update, focusing more on balancing and bug fixing, although there are the usual various minor features and QOL improvements added as well.

Glad they did it.....but now none of the mods work!   >:(

[Martok]

^  Isn't that what usually happens when a new update gets released?  ::)  



A new dev diary talking about the next update ("Banks"), specifically with regards to reworking Ethics, Pops, and Factions is now out.  Hopefully it will make internal politics more interesting -- something long requested by many players. 

[Yskonyn]

Darn, so little time! I really need to start a new game in Stellaris.  :nerd: