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Paradox Development Studios revealed at Gamescom one of the big secret projects they have been working on. So far, everything looks awesome!

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Well known for their grand strategy games such as the Europa Universalis series or Hearts of Iron, Paradox Developement Studios are striking out in a bold new direction by announcing their first game set in space. They've shown off plenty in their presentation and Q&A session at Gamescom, and I have to say that I'm absolutely enthralled by what I've seen.

The game will combine the more interesting aspects of their various series: a touch of Crusader King's narrative, Europa Universalis' diplomacy and empire management and even Victoria's ideologies and late game catastrophes. Stellaris is firmly non-deterministic and each playthrough promises to be different as technology, races and galaxies will be generated each game. Sending named explorers and science expeditions to chart planets and make contact a la Star Trek is as equally part of the game as is forming federations or full-scale galactic warfare.

There a lot of attention to detail in the design philosophy with both big and small mechanics and aspects of the game having a lot of variety and depth. For example, races and their ideologies may change over time given their experiences on different planets and with the galaxy at large. This can have meaningful consequences as a cited example is that the relentless pursuit of AI technology and a lack of respect for computers can cause machine uprisings in a civilization. With technology and discoveries happening at different rates and in different ways in each game, the path to victory won't hopefully always be as obvious as it is in some other strategy games. Developers have already confirmed the usual great level of mod support as their other titles so I fully expect the replayability to be into the usual hundreds of hours mark even after getting used to the randomness of the game.

As this was a surprise announcement and there have been no other press releases, I reached out to Paradox to see if the game would be coming to Linux and got the following reply from the main Linux dev over there:

QuoteStellaris is in a early stage but right now It is running 100% linux and yes it is a Clausewitz NGen title, things might change (who knows) but as far as i know we do not intend to drop any platform we currently are supporting.


It's great to see their continued support for Linux in their internally-developed titles. Given their releases in the past few years, I think it's reasonable to assume that it'll be available on every platform at launch.

Official About
QuoteExplore a vast galaxy full of wonder! Paradox Development Studio, makers of the Crusader Kings and Europa Universalis series presents Stellaris, an evolution of the grand strategy genre with space exploration at its core.

Featuring deep strategic gameplay, an enormous selection of alien races and emergent storytelling, Stellaris has a deeply challenging system that rewards interstellar exploration as you traverse, discover, interact and learn more about the multitude of species you will encounter during your travels.

Etch your name across the cosmos by uncovering remote celestial outposts,and entire civilizations. Will you expand through war or walk the path of diplomacy to achieve your goals?

Main Features
  • Discovery Events – Emergent Storytelling.
  • Deep & Varied Exploration.
  • Enormous procedural star systems, containing thousands of planets.
  • Numerous playable species, each with their own traits and engineering styles.
  • Vast number of Unique Random Species.
  • Advanced Diplomacy system.
  • Ship Designer (even civilian ships can be customized). 
  • Stunning space visuals.

The scope of the project seems ambitious and I have no doubt that it'll be just as every bit addictive as their previous games. I hope that PDS takes their time to polish the game and make it as fun as it currently looks and they might have a real winner. I haven't played a space strategy game in years that wasn't too heavy on the micro and Stellaris seems to have just the right amount of abstraction.

You can see more of the game at its official site. More details of the game can be seen in Paradox's Gamescom presentation, starting at the 55:00 mark. Additionally, if you're too lazy to watch, RPS has done an excellent overview of what was shown and discussed.

Anyone else excited for this? Save for FreeOrion, I don't think we've gotten a good game of this type on Linux yet. Most games I can think of focus on single ships or small systems instead of grand-scale strategy. It'll be interesting to see PDS' take on the space genre. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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kshade Aug 7, 2015
Quoting: Mountain Man
Quoting: hummer010I have a real love / hate relationship with Paradox. I love the games, I love the Linux support.

I hate all the bloody DLC. I hate the fact that you can spend more on DLC than the base game cost.
I think Paradox is one of the few companies to do DLC right. The granular approach means that you can only buy what you want. Plus they give away so much content for free in their patches that I really don't see any reason to complain.

I think selling things like "make different types of units actually look different" and "appropriate background music" is insane. That's like selling the polish for your game separately.
lvlark Aug 8, 2015
Quoting: kshade
Quoting: Mountain Man
Quoting: hummer010I have a real love / hate relationship with Paradox. I love the games, I love the Linux support.

I hate all the bloody DLC. I hate the fact that you can spend more on DLC than the base game cost.
I think Paradox is one of the few companies to do DLC right. The granular approach means that you can only buy what you want. Plus they give away so much content for free in their patches that I really don't see any reason to complain.

I think selling things like "make different types of units actually look different" and "appropriate background music" is insane. That's like selling the polish for your game separately.

I believe he's not talking about the 'small' DLC's (unit packs, music packs), but the bigger DLC's. Features, content.

And that does make sense for Stellaris I suppose: Want diplomatic play to be more in-depth, but couldn't care less about exploration? Then you can skip on one DLC and buy another. Pricing remains vital, though.
hummer010 Aug 8, 2015
[quote=lvlark][quote=kshade]
Quoting: Mountain ManAnd that does make sense for Stellaris I suppose: Want diplomatic play to be more in-depth, but couldn't care less about exploration? Then you can skip on one DLC and buy another. Pricing remains vital, though.

Pricing is my main complaint. Looking at EU4, the base game is around $40CDN. There are then more than 30 DLC with a total cost of around $180CDN!
Guest Aug 8, 2015
Quoting: hummer010Pricing is my main complaint. Looking at EU4, the base game is around $40CDN. There are then more than 30 DLC with a total cost of around $180CDN!

Most games that have significant DLC have more DLC (value wise) than the base game. The unit packs and sound packs change how the game feels and not everyone wants them, so I wouldn't consider them to be missing base game polish.

As an example; Borderlands 2 is £19.99 (was £35-£40 originally), there is 45 DLC items for £96.55.

The game has also been out for 2 years now, it's not like the DLC was all released at once. They had months of development per major DLC, and they gave half the work away for free in the patches.

I've played nearly 900 hours of EU4, so paying around £150 for it seems worth it to me (that's 6 hours of entertainment per GBP).


Last edited by on 8 August 2015 at 12:07 pm UTC
Mountain Man Aug 8, 2015
Quoting: kshade
Quoting: Mountain Man
Quoting: hummer010I have a real love / hate relationship with Paradox. I love the games, I love the Linux support.

I hate all the bloody DLC. I hate the fact that you can spend more on DLC than the base game cost.
I think Paradox is one of the few companies to do DLC right. The granular approach means that you can only buy what you want. Plus they give away so much content for free in their patches that I really don't see any reason to complain.
I think selling things like "make different types of units actually look different" and "appropriate background music" is insane. That's like selling the polish for your game separately.
What's wrong with that? Some people don't care about that stuff, so they can get a content update at a lower price, which is pretty awesome. If you want the eye- and ear-candy then you spend a little more. That's a win/win as far as I'm concerned. And thanks to Steam sales, you can usually get expansion packs for $5 and new unit skins and music packs for as little as $.49.
Purple Library Guy Aug 8, 2015
This could be just the game I've been waiting for. I've always loved big 4X space games, Master of Orion and so on. Haven't seen a lot lately, and the few there have been weren't out for Linux and tended to be hard to get working in Wine. I'll be very much looking forward to this.
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