Stellaris is set to have some big changes with the next major update, along with some minor free content added to the Humanoids Species Pack and the Distant Stars Story Pack.
The biggest change coming in Stellaris 2.2 "Le Guin" is a planetary system re-work. There's so many differences they spread out details of it across four different development logs so it's quite hard to parse into an overview for you. See parts one, two, three, four. It really does seem like a massive change, with the old population tile system being removed. I will let them explain it better:
Before I start going into details on the actual rework, I just wanted to briefly talk about the reasons and goals that are behind this massive rework, and why we're removing tiles and building a new system instead of iterating on the existing systems. For me, getting away from the constraints of tiles has been my single most desired long-term goal for the game. It's not that I think the tile system is inherently a bad system - it works well to visualize your pops and buildings and for the early game it works well enough in giving the player some interesting economic management decisions. However, the tile system is also very constrictive, in a way I feel is detrimental to the very core concepts of Stellaris. The hard limitation of one pop and one building per tile, as well as the hard limitation of 25 tiles/pops/buildings to a planet, it severely limits the kind of societies and planets that we can present in the game.
Honestly, trying to understand everything that's changed has practically fried my brain like an egg. They recently did a livestream to go over the changes which might make it easier to parse than reading four different logs, see below:
Direct Link
On top of that, the Humanoids Species Pack and Distant Stars Story Pack both got some new free content added in too!
For the Humanoids Species Pack, Paradox worked with community modder Silfae, to add in a load of new customisation options. So you now have more hairstyles, beards, colours and so on to several species so there's even more customisation to be found when picking a race.
For the Distant Stars Story Pack, they adjusted several key anomalies and events to fully flesh them out, especially those relating to the L-Cluster.
If you wish to pick up Stellaris, the best place right now is Steam directly as they're having a Paradox Publisher weekend sale.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Leopard 7 Sep 2018
plus free content added into some DLCs
Lol
Rooster 7 Sep 2018
KohlyKohl 7 Sep 2018
plus free content added into some DLCs
Lol
I really like Stellaris. However, the fact that I need to spend $100 to get the complete experience is a big turn off for me to buy anything in the future.
It really is a disappointment that I cannot enjoy the full game experience.
As for the game update, I found the tile mechanic to be boring and tedious. The changes look to be going in the right direction from what I've seen and should breathe life back into this game.
Last edited by KohlyKohl on 7 Sep 2018 at 4:27 pm UTC
And really, I think it's a bit much for the conversation to be focussing on Paradox's DLCs when this is a major free update--happening how long after the game's release? Yeah, how many of your no-DLC games get that level of support? Frankly, Paradox games are just bigger than most other games. So they end up costing more; this is made more workable by splitting the cost into chunks. But your price per hour of play, your cost per amount of entertainment, on a Paradox game tends to be very competitive.
If you prefer little games that you play through once or twice in a few hours, nothing wrong with that. But that isn't a reason to diss the existence of big games that repay dozens of hours of play on the basis that they cost more than little ones; of course they do.
Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 7 Sep 2018 at 4:53 pm UTC
NovenTheHero 7 Sep 2018
14 7 Sep 2018
I will, however, probably wait for the big update to release before I jump into a new game because I don't like my saves becoming incompatible.
omer666 7 Sep 2018
What I did, just like I did with Cities: Skyline, was to wait until I can get all DLCs I don't have for the price of an expansion and I buy them in batch. That way, it really does feel like a fully fledged expansion, and in the case of City: Skylines, it almost felt like a sequel (apart from graphics, of course.)
Their DLCs are really feature-heavy, it's not like it was a 10€ map pack.
Last edited by omer666 on 7 Sep 2018 at 6:24 pm UTC
Liam Dawe 7 Sep 2018
jo3fis 7 Sep 2018
I never minded the tile system that much but I also was never enthralled by it. This looks like it could be pretty good.
And really, I think it's a bit much for the conversation to be focussing on Paradox's DLCs when this is a major free update--happening how long after the game's release? Yeah, how many of your no-DLC games get that level of support? Frankly, Paradox games are just bigger than most other games. So they end up costing more; this is made more workable by splitting the cost into chunks. But your price per hour of play, your cost per amount of entertainment, on a Paradox game tends to be very competitive.
If you prefer little games that you play through once or twice in a few hours, nothing wrong with that. But that isn't a reason to diss the existence of big games that repay dozens of hours of play on the basis that they cost more than little ones; of course they do.
Totally agree.
I enjoyed Stellaris initially but got bored with it pretty quickly, especially the end game.IMO the end game can still get a bit stodgy, but some of the DLCs do pep things up significantly.
I don't think I'll go back to it for a while. I did play it without any of the DLC's.
Dunc 7 Sep 2018
I think that's the important thing with Paradox DLC: you have to be very discriminating about what you buy. You don't need it all; buy what appeals to you, and what you can afford. For example, The Republic for CKII almost turns it into a whole different game, so I thought that was worth the money. Neither of the major expansions for Stellaris so far has struck me as particularly interesting. (YMMV, obviously.)
On the other hand, the changes they make to the base game over the course of its life are the sort of thing Firaxis would call a “sequel“ and charge sixty quid for. I prefer Paradox's approach.
pete910 8 Sep 2018
Funny how a few years ago we were all moaning about no games on linux to moaning about DLC!
On a side note, the DLC is still playable without purchase in a multiplayer game if the host has the relevant DLC!
Have over 400 hrs in it, 99% spent in multiplayer and cant fault Paradox for the continued support and on our platform too!
And yes I have all the DLC, why you may ask, Because I enjoy the damn game!!!!!
Liam Dawe 8 Sep 2018
On a side note, the DLC is still playable without purchase in a multiplayer game if the host has the relevant DLC!I think this needs highlighting again. If the host of an online game has the DLC, you all get to use it :D
LungDrago 8 Sep 2018
On a side note, the DLC is still playable without purchase in a multiplayer game if the host has the relevant DLC!I think this needs highlighting again. If the host of an online game has the DLC, you all get to use it :D
Exactly! Played with a friend who owned all the DLC, tried out the machine consciousness that way - and now I'm buying it too. :D
On another note, is there any information regarding when the patch will land? I don't know if I missed it in the video but I can't seem to find that info anywhere. It would be nice to know as one of the things this patch will surely do is break old saves.
Last edited by LungDrago on 8 Sep 2018 at 11:33 am UTC
I enjoy Stellaris and i do not own any DLC yet. Instead of having a new standalone game you get a DLC. But each time it is sort of a new game with (i hope) a lot of content. They support their games for a long time which is great IMHO.
Some seem to be me content-rich than others but you are not forced to buy them.
Caveat: i have no tested how things work on the multiplayer scene.
Any multiplayer games include all DLC the host has installed, so not having a DLC will not hurt your multiplayer options. It may limit a game based on what you have installed, if you host missing a DLC, but anyone with the base game can join and play with you.
14 18 Sep 2018
I bought the base game for like $20 and have probably spent about $20 on DLC since then. I have over 100 hours in the game. I'm not unhappy.According to Dev Diary #125, update 2.2 is a long time away. So, I guess I shouldn't be afraid to play until then.
I will, however, probably wait for the big update to release before I jump into a new game because I don't like my saves becoming incompatible.
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