This looks like more fun than driving to mars in a Tesla!

View this comment - View article - View full comments

I definitively look forward to this game. Very interesting concept and the detailed answer from the developer is heartening.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: Kimyrielle

Quoting: Alm888Sorry, Paradox, but DRM-free or it didn't happen. I won't give Valve a cent.

<rant>

You do realize that this attitude is part of what might make bigger publishers reconsider supporting Linux, yes? If you're not buying their games for purely ideological reasons (and that's what it is), they might oblige and stop offering them.

Am I a fan of DRM? Certainly not. But mildly intrusive systems like Steam's are still better than having no games at all. And as others have pointed out, Paradox doesn't even -use- Steam's DRM features, so this makes boycotting them extra-dumb in my book.

This Steam bashing coming from some zealots here makes me angry, in all honesty. Without Valve pushing us, we would have a handful of low-budget, garage-made Indie games and Tux Racer to play. In other words, nothing worth mentioning. I guess I wouldn't even BE here, because I'd still use Windows 99% of the time when playing games, instead of the other way around, which Valve had no small part in making possible.

If people like you would finally put their knuckleheaded ideology away and start buying games from Steam they would have bought from GOG without even thinking twice, publishers like Paradox wouldn't think about dropping support for us. In other words, yes, I think you're a part of the problem here.

PS: I hope you don't have any Android/iOS smartphone, any streaming subscription or cable TV either. All of these have built-in DRM, so you folks have to boycott them, too!

</rant>

It is vital that the operating system itself and all applications you need to process important files, data and information are not only free of DRM but actually Open Source. Free of DRM is important where security, reliability and your control over the processed data is important.

But I don't see such a big problem with DRM in games - other than the problem that you can't sell them.

Games are not yet there to be that important. Movies on the other hand (and of course books) can be more important for a free society to be free of DRM.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: Purple Library Guy

Quoting: libgradev

Quoting: liamdaweThis is what I find interesting though, you're not forced to buy the DLC, you can likely buy the base game and be content with the many hours it would bring you. Once it feels stale, pick up one the major DLC and so on. Paradox strategy games are generally full of content to keep you busy without expansions.

True, you're not, but from the article: "I've thought for too long the combat in Stellaris was quite lacking". I'd just rather play a 'functionally' complete game once (either with/without ~3 content expansions). The model often used here just feels like too much of a guessing game personally.

I do appreciate the flexibility Paradox's approach affords though - for myself (and possibly others in my position) it just doesn't sit quite right :)

I think most of the actual gameplay changes/enhancements that accompany a DLC do get rolled into the main game, though. So if I don't buy Apocalypse I won't get the planetbusters or the huge flagships but I will still get the Cherryh rule changes, not so? So if the rule changes improve combat I get my improved combat, and if I buy the game after Apocalypse comes out I will be buying a version of the game with the improved combat.

Indeed, most of the gameplay changes in Paradox games are given free to all owners of the base game. But I have to say that for Europa Universalis IV I'm right now using deliberately not the most updated base game (you can choose other versions of EU IV to install in the Steam client via the "Betas" tab under "Properties" ) because I want to play the game without some changes after the 1.11.4 version.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Ok, Paradox, I hear you. I just bought Stellaris although I have a backlog of (Linux) games to play in a magnitude of years of possible playtime.

But I got an itch to play Stellaris in the last days anyway. And the game runs really smoothly even on older hardware. Well done, Paradox. :D

But even if I survey the whole galaxy in Stellaris I probably won't find an answer to the question why there are not more Linux users in the universe. :dizzy:

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Thanks for your review!

I tried to form an opinion about the game just by watching some streams on Twitch. But for this type of game I really needed a written review.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: BlodofferPUBG.

For all those millions of Chinese players with pirated Windows 7.

At first it sounds funny but if chinese players learn that you don't need a pirated Windows to play PUBG then I see lots of new Linux users and therefore lots of new customers for new Feral Linux ports.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Playerunknown's Battlegrounds (also known as: PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS)

Because I want to spend less time watching it on Twitch and more time playing it with my own fists. (You play that game with your fists, right?)

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: ertuquequeThe recent events over the past few months: the WannaCry and Petya debacles were huge in the news and a significant number of people and businesses were affected, making them consider (and apparently take action) on switching to Linux. In the past (5-10 years ago), events like these might have turned people to Linux, but Linux 5-10 years ago was still to "hostile" for the average user (hello, wireless connections) and they just went back to Windows (that was my case)... Today? Things have improved A LOT. Hardware now works out of the box, driver performance and features are everyday closer to Windows levels, GUIs for programs are replacing the daunting CLI stuff... Things are getting much more "average user friendly".

Sounds reasonable. Lots of articles in computer related magazines and on their websites were dedicated to the ransomware problem in the last months. Some tried to scare even Linux users, but alas, just save your backups with an automatic root process to a folder that only root can access and any possible future Linux ransomware entering your system via e-mail (I click all elf binaries which are send to me via e-mail, you know...) or via a browser plugin security hole looks very sad.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: Perkeleen_VittupääEmphasis on the "it could be solved" and nevertheless: one has to repeat that re-installation every few months to keep it "fresh" / getting everything as it was prior.. At worst takes couple of days, right. Fun all the way XD

This looming nightmare on Windows of having to manually reinstall everything after something went wrong (even be it a very rare hard disk crash) brought me to Linux. Now I can save a list with all installed programs and only have to backup my /home (which can be done automatically in the background every 30 minutes or so if needed).

After a hard disk crash e.g. I reinstall Linux from disk/usb stick, tell the package manager to read the list with my previously installed programs to let it reinstall all of them automatically. It might take 2 hours but all the work is done by the computer. After that you only have to copy the backup of /home to your new /home and all is back: your programs, your files and all settings inside your programs – as if nothing ever happened to your old hard disk.

This easy, secure and reliable recovery mechanism on Linux gives an ease of mind which can't be bought with money on Windows - because Windows lacks a package manager with a central repository of software. On Windows you only could make whole disk images - but that takes time, lots of space, isn't that hassle free when you actually have to rewrite the image to new hardware and you can't use the computer while you create the image.

View this comment - View article - View full comments