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Uzzy

Uzzy

Gabe’s little helper
Member
Oct 25, 2017
27,062
Hull, UK
I lasted until 1453. Had a boring game as a OPM. My rival neighbour was dealing with rebellions, so I decided it was the right time to declare war. But I forgot to raise army maintenance/morale first. Despite having a higher military tech than my enemy, they got wiped out.

syyjlqew2hy01.gif


Japan next!

I'm glad you've not been put off, and spent a while learning the basics. That's good to see.

Japan is a very fun nation to play as, with a good gameplay arc. You first need to unite Japan, then build up a power base in the Pacific or Asia, then find a way to beat Ming.
 

eonden

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,074
I'm glad you've not been put off, and spent a while learning the basics. That's good to see.

Japan is a very fun nation to play as, with a good gameplay arc. You first need to unite Japan, then build up a power base in the Pacific or Asia, then find a way to beat Ming.
The way is colonizing America.
 

SaberVS7

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,228
Is the Militarisation Bonus worth it for a Brandenburg-Prussia, or should I just ignore it and be content with the +3MIL leaders while I go wide?

Considering giving my original Brandenburg provinces to my Pomerania vassal when I form Prussia to focus on a Tall Baltic-Prussia, but just not sure if it's a good idea or not.
 

cognizant

Member
Dec 19, 2017
13,751
I'm glad you've not been put off, and spent a while learning the basics. That's good to see.

Japan is a very fun nation to play as, with a good gameplay arc. You first need to unite Japan, then build up a power base in the Pacific or Asia, then find a way to beat Ming.

I think after getting frustrated with the lack of diplomacy in Civ V, a game like EU4 is overwhelming me with its options. Overwhelming in a good way!

Speaking of Civ, I think I noticed what the cool kids these days refer to as 'shade'.

pGHjh9L.jpg
 

cognizant

Member
Dec 19, 2017
13,751
I'm glad you've not been put off, and spent a while learning the basics. That's good to see.

Japan is a very fun nation to play as, with a good gameplay arc. You first need to unite Japan, then build up a power base in the Pacific or Asia, then find a way to beat Ming.

I haven't started my Tokugawa game yet, but reading up on the game mechanics of daimyo and shogun is blowing my mind, so much depth! Daimyo can't start a war if their liberty desire is under 50 otherwise the leader will be forced to commit seppuku. Meanwhile the shogun can only diplo annex vassals if they're at peace, which is hard because...well, warring states Japan! I'm loving all the rules, need to think about my first moves...

I think allies can raise your liberty desire? Might have to make some friends away from me, so I have room to expand once I'm ready. Then again I need an ally close to back me if I get attacked...I don't want to wait around long. Need to meet force limit first...

Ahhhh, choices!
 

eonden

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,074
I haven't started my Tokugawa game yet, but reading up on the game mechanics of daimyo and shogun is blowing my mind, so much depth! Daimyo can't start a war if their liberty desire is under 50 otherwise the leader will be forced to commit seppuku. Meanwhile the shogun can only diplo annex vassals if they're at peace, which is hard because...well, warring states Japan! I'm loving all the rules, need to think about my first moves...

I think allies can raise your liberty desire? Might have to make some friends away from me, so I have room to expand once I'm ready. Then again I need an ally close to back me if I get attacked...I don't want to wait around long. Need to meet force limit first...

Ahhhh, choices!
Pretty sure LD is nearly always over 50% because the emperor is weak (plus increased LD) so you just need to wait for a bit as a Daimyo to start warring with your neighbours. Hell the thing you will learn the most in that playthrough is coalition control because you get ton of aggressive expansion.
LD is accounted by both the total power from all vassals over a certain LD (so if you have tons of small vassals it isnt a problem until some start getting unruly which causes a chain reaction) and individually from how powerful you are with your allies.
Just leave taking the capital from the emperor for the last, as sometimes it is more annoying to absorb the daimyos diplomatically rather than just kill them once you are big enough.
 

cognizant

Member
Dec 19, 2017
13,751
Pretty sure LD is nearly always over 50% because the emperor is weak (plus increased LD) so you just need to wait for a bit as a Daimyo to start warring with your neighbours. Hell the thing you will learn the most in that playthrough is coalition control because you get ton of aggressive expansion.
LD is accounted by both the total power from all vassals over a certain LD (so if you have tons of small vassals it isnt a problem until some start getting unruly which causes a chain reaction) and individually from how powerful you are with your allies.
Just leave taking the capital from the emperor for the last, as sometimes it is more annoying to absorb the daimyos diplomatically rather than just kill them once you are big enough.

Yeah I was planning on taking Kyoto later too, but I also read the shogun can get a CB on you once you have 10 provinces, so I guess at that point I might as well go for it. I need to double check Tokugawa's LD but I could have sworn it was like 38% when I booted up the game last night. I haven't passed day 1 yet, so I'll see where its at by 11 December.

I am still a noob to grand strategy so I have this feeling I'm not going to last a decade in this playthrough either lol...
 

eonden

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,074
Yeah I was planning on taking Kyoto later too, but I also read the shogun can get a CB on you once you have 10 provinces, so I guess at that point I might as well go for it. I need to double check Tokugawa's LD but I could have sworn it was like 38% when I booted up the game last night. I haven't passed day 1 yet, so I'll see where its at by 11 December.

I am still a noob to grand strategy so I have this feeling I'm not going to last a decade in this playthrough either lol...
By the time you have 10 provinces you have probably fought a war with the shogun, also I said just dont take Kyoto in the peace deal, as that will make you the shogun.
It is important to know that you can separate peace as long as you are not in a coalition war, which can be done to absorb a lot of small kingdoms that might be allied at the cost of mana and tons of AE.
 

karnage10

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,499
Portugal
Yeah I was planning on taking Kyoto later too, but I also read the shogun can get a CB on you once you have 10 provinces, so I guess at that point I might as well go for it. I need to double check Tokugawa's LD but I could have sworn it was like 38% when I booted up the game last night. I haven't passed day 1 yet, so I'll see where its at by 11 December.

I am still a noob to grand strategy so I have this feeling I'm not going to last a decade in this playthrough either lol...

IMO the countries you are playing are really hard and will make the game much harder to learn as you have to juggle a lot of things at the same time. For me castile, austria and england are the best countries to learn the game.

Castile is the best because it has a relatively speaking safe location; Portugal and morroco are too small to be a threat; Aragon has similar size but is surrounded by strong factions so they have a hard time expanding. France is the only threat so as long as you can deal with them you are safe. As castile you can expand either through colonization or just expand into europe/africa by either using alliances or just using the opportune moment to strike.

Austria is very interesting to learn the importance of diplomacy. To continue to be the holy roman empire (HRE) emperor you need to vote of the elector counts as such you need to court them so they favor you above other factions inside the HRE. This means you want a very fragmented HRE with you as the strongest yet most trustworthy faction. As the emperor you get a lot of manpower and capacity as well a lot of CB to wage a lot of war. As you are landlocked you can ignore the navy part of the game.

England is the best faction to learn about navies. You start with a nasty civil war, once you end that disaster you move to secure the island. After becoming sealocked you have 2 options for expanding- europe or colonization. Either way you will need a strong fleet to be able to transport your army safely as well as a good understanding on the role of each ship.

In short castile allows you to explore the basic mechanics without too much pressure, austria requires you to understand diplomacy and England allows you to explore the naval part of the game. IMO after you do these 3 playthroughs you should have a basic understanding of everything needed to enjoy the "smaller" nations.
 

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Hella

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Oct 27, 2017
23,394
A new authority, plus corporations? Had no idea.

Looking forward to devouring them all as the Zerg.
 

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Here's some stuff they've yet to talk about but have been spotted on streams, which will likely be part of the new expansion:

New authority type: Big M and similarity to Weyland Yutani logo seem to indicate that Megacorporation will be its own authority now.


Corporate tab for planets, seems a little barebones right now but who know what that "Establish Branch Office" button does?


Also a new ascension perk which will disgust fanatic xenophobes everywhere.

b2ewc08k2ys11.png


A quick mouse over showed that it gives a flat 20% pop growth speed. I would have thought it would only occur when there are multiple species represented on a planet but maybe it'll change closer to the time.

Them being tight-lipped about the slave market and ecumenopolis seems to suggest that they'll be part of it too.
 
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Hella

Member
Oct 27, 2017
23,394
I wonder if that will be a redux of the Corporate Dominion civic. It always felt a little out of place tucked away in civics--being made an authority would make a lot more sense in general, on top of whatever the DLC adds.

A potential idea for a future expansion would be to do the same for the Feudal Society (or Barbaric Despoilers) civic, turning it into an equivalent Authority for a conquest-focused expansion.
 

Deleted member 29682

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I wonder if that will be a redux of the Corporate Dominion civic. It always felt a little out of place tucked away in civics--being made an authority would make a lot more sense in general, on top of whatever the DLC adds.

It wasn't always like that, it used to just be a simple 10% energy gain iirc. It was only since the last major update that it got remixed, and now it's one of the more characterful civics. Seems like a lot of the newer civics do cool stuff while the original batch are in need of a change, not just Corporate Dominion.
 

eonden

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,074
I mean stellaris has been adding tons of more in depth characterization of civics since it launched. remember when purging was a pain in the ass?
 
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Uzzy

Uzzy

Gabe’s little helper
Member
Oct 25, 2017
27,062
Hull, UK
Arumba fixes the most annoying thing about the peace deal screen in EU, he mods the game to let you see if they'll accept the peace deal while asking for money. And he does it live.



This beautiful bald man is insane sometimes.
 

ZZMitch

Member
Oct 26, 2017
704
Any of you guys play Surviving Mars? It's on sale at a price point I'd probability jump on but have heard some mixed things.
 

KingSnake

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,977
Any of you guys play Surviving Mars? It's on sale at a price point I'd probability jump on but have heard some mixed things.

I've played it. Will go back when the new extension hits. It's fun, but it's maybe the least replayable among the Paradox titles because there are so many starts that you can do before things going quite on the same path.

Keeping your colonists alive when you overextended and overspent is quite a rush though.
 

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Someone on the Stellaris subreddit managed to spot a few new things that are going to be part of the new expansion. A bit small so feel free to squint.


So we've got a new government name (MegaCorporation), Commercial Pacts, something called Criminal Heritage (probably a civic) and confirmation that the new authority type is Corporate.

Time to make some space cheddar.
 

Hella

Member
Oct 27, 2017
23,394
Criminal Heritage sounds a bit more involved than just a civic. It sounds almost like a history trait you take for your empire, that shapes it significantly.

Social heritages are a go?


Good finds by the Stellaris subreddit. My anticipation intensifies.
 

eonden

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,074
Criminal Heritage sounds a bit more involved than just a civic. It sounds almost like a history trait you take for your empire, that shapes it significantly.

Social heritages are a go?


Good finds by the Stellaris subreddit. My anticipation intensifies.
It is probably one of the civics for the new type of unique government that is the company thingie. That is similar to what other unique governments have, where they have different ways to imagine that empire.
 

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Criminal Heritage sounds a bit more involved than just a civic. It sounds almost like a history trait you take for your empire, that shapes it significantly.

Social heritages are a go?


Good finds by the Stellaris subreddit. My anticipation intensifies.

It is probably one of the civics for the new type of unique government that is the company thingie. That is similar to what other unique governments have, where they have different ways to imagine that empire.

Crime syndicates were something teased earlier in the planetary rework dev diaries. I think the idea is that consistently high crime rates give rise to more organised crime, and you can try to stamp it out or work with them for some unspecified benefits. It was hinted at this point that there could be a way of officially integrating them into government. My guess is that Criminal Heritage is a civic that allows you to start with a crime syndicates already integrated, much like some other civics that start you off with some techs and abilities.
 

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Well here it is:



The stream showed off a lot of new features:

The new authority, Megacorporation, with its own unique civics much like Hive Mind and Gestalt Consciousness. They have a major penalty to going over your empire size so are meant to be played very tall. If you have a Commercial Pact with an empire you can establish Branch Offices on their planets for an initial lump sum of energy. These provide income to you based on the total trade value of the planet. As the planet grows you can build corporate buildings on it, providing bonuses to both you and the planet owner, so there are benefits to accepting Commercial Pacts from Megacorps.

A special civic available to Megacorps is Criminal Heritage, which allows you to build branch offices without other empires' permission. Their income is based not only on trade value but also crime rate - high crime planets are more profitable than standard branch offices but low crime planets will be less profitable. They have their equivalent corporate buildings which in addition also increase crime rate. The benefits to the host empire will still remain though.

Note that branch offices cannot be built in Hive Minds, Gestalt Consciousness or Fallen Empires. Each planet can only have one Branch Office, so Megacorps can fight each other to seize them from one another. Even if you revoke a Commercial Pact, Branch Offices will stay on your planets, so you need to declare war on Megacorps to force them out of your empire. But if you lose, they can make you a Subsidiary, a type of vassal that cannot be integrated but must pay 25% of their monthly income. Refusing a Commercial Pact will also give Megacorps the "Hostile Takeover" casus belli.

The civic Gospel of the Masses is also unique, and will boost trade value based on the number of spiritual pops. There is also a unique Temple corporate building which increase spiritualist ethics gain. This is the new Megachurch government type, available to Megacorps.

A new neutral faction, the Caravaneers, is always based in Chor's Compass. They have fleets which wander the galaxy and will offer randomised deals whenever they enter your borders. These deals can be a barter for a wide range of things (ships for pops, resources for tech etc.) which may be a great or terrible deal, given your current situation. Their home station is described as 'Space Vegas', where you can purchase premium currency (with in game resources, mind) to gamble with slots or lootboxes reliquaries. If their base is destroyed they may relocate to a safer part of the galaxy. There's no real reason to declare war on them, besides looting their caravan fleets.

Ecumenopolises are the result of a new ascension perk, and allow you to transform planets with only housing into an Ecumenopolis. This has access to much higher capacity housing and more efficient manufacturing/culture/etc. districts, at the cost of not being able to make use of natural resources or deposits.

There are 4 new megastructures: one that can be built around a black hole and provides a ton of minerals (Matter Decompressor), one that boosts fleet effectiveness and force limit (Strategic Coordination Centre), one that gives a big boost to unity (Mega Art Installation) and another which boosts diplomatic relations and immigration pull (Interstellar Assembly Centre).

The slave market is also part of the new DLC, not much talked about that yet other than you can use it to buy and free slaves if you want.

There are 3 new advisor voices: 2 corporate ones (one that's described as a cross between Zapp Brannigan and Cave Johnson, and another that's a more sinister 'Our customers are our family, our products a way of life' type) and a Shared Burden based one (pseudo-Eastern European 'Seize the Means' type).

I think that's about everything I saw on the stream. Honestly it feels like Le Guin/Megacorp is going to be a bigger shake up than Cherryh/Apocalypse, and that's saying something. It probably won't be as controversial though.

EDIT: I should also probably mention that Wiz has said that there's still some features they haven't talked about yet, so the above is by no means a thorough feature-complete list.
 
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Zedelima

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Oct 25, 2017
7,714
Yay, playing tall is one thing that im trying really hard to do but never acomplished (research started to take way too long)
This dlc pleases me
 

Deleted member 29682

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Yay, playing tall is one thing that im trying really hard to do but never acomplished (research started to take way too long)
This dlc pleases me

I think the planetary rework in Le Guin should fix that anyway. Highly populated, urbanised planets can be big research powerhouses. It's natural raw resources you may struggle with if you don't have many planets, but the Galactic Market (that will also be added in Le Guin) should ensure that you'll always have access to those if you can afford them.
 

Zedelima

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Oct 25, 2017
7,714
I think the planetary rework in Le Guin should fix that anyway. Highly populated, urbanised planets can be big research powerhouses. It's natural raw resources you may struggle with if you don't have many planets, but the Galactic Market (that will also be added in Le Guin) should ensure that you'll always have access to those if you can afford them.
Yep, i saw this too! I have almost a "fetiche" with tall empires and since the beggining im trying to do one, and even with guides it proved to be pretty much impossible
Maybe with a lot of deals i can afford everything
 

Anno

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,950
Columbus, Ohio
I'm super pumped for this DLC. Megacorps seem like a fun Stellaris-y take on Civ V Venice, which is one of my favorite strategy factions ever.
 

karnage10

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,499
Portugal
Well here it is:



The stream showed off a lot of new features:

The new authority, Megacorporation, with its own unique civics much like Hive Mind and Gestalt Consciousness. They have a major penalty to going over your empire size so are meant to be played very tall. If you have a Commercial Pact with an empire you can establish Branch Offices on their planets for an initial lump sum of energy. These provide income to you based on the total trade value of the planet. As the planet grows you can build corporate buildings on it, providing bonuses to both you and the planet owner, so there are benefits to accepting Commercial Pacts from Megacorps.

A special civic available to Megacorps is Criminal Heritage, which allows you to build branch offices without other empires' permission. Their income is based not only on trade value but also crime rate - high crime planets are more profitable than standard branch offices but low crime planets will be less profitable. They have their equivalent corporate buildings which in addition also increase crime rate. The benefits to the host empire will still remain though.

Note that branch offices cannot be built in Hive Minds, Gestalt Consciousness or Fallen Empires. Each planet can only have one Branch Office, so Megacorps can fight each other to seize them from one another. Even if you revoke a Commercial Pact, Branch Offices will stay on your planets, so you need to declare war on Megacorps to force them out of your empire. But if you lose, they can make you a Subsidiary, a type of vassal that cannot be integrated but must pay 25% of their monthly income. Refusing a Commercial Pact will also give Megacorps the "Hostile Takeover" casus belli.

The civic Gospel of the Masses is also unique, and will boost trade value based on the number of spiritual pops. There is also a unique Temple corporate building which increase spiritualist ethics gain. This is the new Megachurch government type, available to Megacorps.

A new neutral faction, the Caravaneers, is always based in Chor's Compass. They have fleets which wander the galaxy and will offer randomised deals whenever they enter your borders. These deals can be a barter for a wide range of things (ships for pops, resources for tech etc.) which may be a great or terrible deal, given your current situation. Their home station is described as 'Space Vegas', where you can purchase premium currency (with in game resources, mind) to gamble with slots or lootboxes reliquaries. If their base is destroyed they may relocate to a safer part of the galaxy. There's no real reason to declare war on them, besides looting their caravan fleets.

Ecumenopolises are the result of a new ascension perk, and allow you to transform planets with only housing into an Ecumenopolis. This has access to much higher capacity housing and more efficient manufacturing/culture/etc. districts, at the cost of not being able to make use of natural resources or deposits.

There are 4 new megastructures: one that can be built around a black hole and provides a ton of minerals (Matter Decompressor), one that boosts fleet effectiveness and force limit (Strategic Coordination Centre), one that gives a big boost to unity (Mega Art Installation) and another which boosts diplomatic relations and immigration pull (Interstellar Assembly Centre).

The slave market is also part of the new DLC, not much talked about that yet other than you can use it to buy and free slaves if you want.

There are 3 new advisor voices: 2 corporate ones (one that's described as a cross between Zapp Brannigan and Cave Johnson, and another that's a more sinister 'Our customers are our family, our products a way of life' type) and a Shared Burden based one (pseudo-Eastern European 'Seize the Means' type).

I think that's about everything I saw on the stream. Honestly it feels like Le Guin/Megacorp is going to be a bigger shake up than Cherryh/Apocalypse, and that's saying something. It probably won't be as controversial though.

EDIT: I should also probably mention that Wiz has said that there's still some features they haven't talked about yet, so the above is by no means a thorough feature-complete list.

You know i was kinda disappointed reading just the announcement on the page. It has a small paragraph for the new features. After reading your post it completely sold me on the expansion.
Thank you for taking the time to explain the expansion!

I, for one, welcome our cyberpunk dystopian future.
LOL
 

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By the way, here's an upload of the stream where they go over Megacorp, in case I missed anything or got anything wrong, or if you just want to see some of the stuff in person (so to speak).

 

Hella

Member
Oct 27, 2017
23,394
There's a new Stellaris dev diary to go alongside the expansion. It primarily covers the big new features, the Corporate authority (replacing Corporate Dominion for owners), and the two unique civics, Criminal Heritage and Gospel of the Masses:

Of the new stuff, the Corporate Branches in particular sound like a real gamechanger. Alongside a Commercial Pact, they will make Megacorps a mutually beneficial partner for non-Gestalt empires, both globally and per-planet. It should go a long way to making the galaxy more varied and interesting.

They also go over Subsidiaries, new casus bellis, and the new buildings and jobs available due to Megacorps.

And next week's tease:
That's all for today! Next week we're going to continue talking about the MegaCorp expansion, on the topic of Ecumenopolises and new Megastructures.

As someone that never plays tall, I'm suddenly very interested in playing tall. And making the Hutt Cartel.
 

karnage10

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,499
Portugal
By the way, here's an upload of the stream where they go over Megacorp, in case I missed anything or got anything wrong, or if you just want to see some of the stuff in person (so to speak).


The main reason i appreciate your post is that i don't want to "waste" time seeing a stream. You see i'm studying for an exam in november so my free time is small and i prefer to use it to play video games instead of seeing videos. However as a doctor i spend a lot of time near a PC and have some dead time so it is very easy to read post but it is completely impossible to see a video/follow a stream.

PDS for some reason don't really have good posts announcing their expansions! the DD are great but if you open any steam store you don't really understand what you are buying.

Once again i really appreciate you posting your comment. The insight there is much more valuable then the 4 lines of text that PDS wrote on their store page.

There's a new Stellaris dev diary to go alongside the expansion. It primarily covers the big new features, the Corporate authority (replacing Corporate Dominion for owners), and the two unique civics, Criminal Heritage and Gospel of the Masses:


Of the new stuff, the Corporate Branches in particular sound like a real gamechanger. Alongside a Commercial Pact, they will make Megacorps a mutually beneficial partner for non-Gestalt empires, both globally and per-planet. It should go a long way to making the galaxy more varied and interesting.

They also go over Subsidiaries, new casus bellis, and the new buildings and jobs available due to Megacorps.

And next week's tease:


As someone that never plays tall, I'm suddenly very interested in playing tall. And making the Hutt Cartel.

I missed this one. thank you.
 

cognizant

Member
Dec 19, 2017
13,751
Weeeelll, my 2nd playthrough of EU4 was going so well as Tokugawa Japan, I had 9 provinces, +3 stability, making money, things were looking great... but ultimately ended in a complete confusing clusterfuck in 1470.

I had started a war with the shogun (Ashikaga), sweeping through the country taking on all his faithful vassals thanks in part to being over my force limit, but one of my allies eventually took Kyoto before I could, so basically I couldn't claim it in the peace deal.

The demand tribute section was so confusing, the only one choice related to uniting Japan was 'gain independence' which made me an independent daimyo. Big deal, that's not why I started the damn war! So now I'm still a 9 province clan with lots of occupied territory that I couldn't possibly claim because the over-extension penalty would be a kajillion. In a rising frenzy of rage, I broke my alliance in an attempt to grab Kyoto from my douchebag ally but the game wouldn't even let me siege Kyoto at all, my troops were just standing in the province looking bored. I think a fort in the adjacent province of Mino had something to do with it, I dunno, whatever, the whole country was a gigantic mess of infighting. I took war reps and no land from the clans I'd defeated, but my own clan was still deep in debt from the gamble to take on the shogun, with no way out that I could see without enduring lots of time-consuming micro-management, with -3 stability, with war exhaustion, with a howl, I rage quit.

I know, you're thinking what a dumbass, but once I had 10 provinces under my belt Ashikaga and all their vassals would have declared on me anyway, I thought it best to attack them all on my terms. Japan's bloody hard! I should have dissolved all alliances before making a move, gone a bit more over force limit to handle the waves of soldiers. I'm assuming owning Kyoto would have been the key to becoming shogun and then from that point I'd have just needed to improve relations with my new vassals. Siiiigh.

Anyway. After the Spain update, I'm gonna try England and colonization next. (though I'm thinking I'll probably start my first CK2 playthrough if Holy Fury drops sooner)

In the meantime, I'm going to try out the Total War franchise with Shogun 2. Should be child's play in comparison to my 38 hours endurance of EU4's complicated button spaghetti.
 

Dennis8K

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
20,161
Is Stellaris good to go or is there a big update just around the corner?

I know the Megacorp expansion is coming soon but in terms of updating the core game is it all set or are we waiting for a major update?
 

Anno

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,950
Columbus, Ohio
Is Stellaris good to go or is there a big update just around the corner?

I know the Megacorp expansion is coming soon but in terms of updating the core game is it all set or are we waiting for a major update?

There's an update coming with MegaCorp that significantly changes the game by redefining how planets and population works. The game as it exists now is fun and worth playing though, even if just to see what it's like before they blow it all up.
 

Dennis8K

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
20,161
There's an update coming with MegaCorp that significantly changes the game by redefining how planets and population works. The game as it exists now is fun and worth playing though, even if just to see what it's like before they blow it all up.
Thanks, that is the info I was looking for.

I will probably just wait for Megacorp then, I got a huge backlog anyway.
 

eonden

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,074
Weeeelll, my 2nd playthrough of EU4 was going so well as Tokugawa Japan, I had 9 provinces, +3 stability, making money, things were looking great... but ultimately ended in a complete confusing clusterfuck in 1470.

I had started a war with the shogun (Ashikaga), sweeping through the country taking on all his faithful vassals thanks in part to being over my force limit, but one of my allies eventually took Kyoto before I could, so basically I couldn't claim it in the peace deal.

The demand tribute section was so confusing, the only one choice related to uniting Japan was 'gain independence' which made me an independent daimyo. Big deal, that's not why I started the damn war! So now I'm still a 9 province clan with lots of occupied territory that I couldn't possibly claim because the over-extension penalty would be a kajillion. In a rising frenzy of rage, I broke my alliance in an attempt to grab Kyoto from my douchebag ally but the game wouldn't even let me siege Kyoto at all, my troops were just standing in the province looking bored. I think a fort in the adjacent province of Mino had something to do with it, I dunno, whatever, the whole country was a gigantic mess of infighting. I took war reps and no land from the clans I'd defeated, but my own clan was still deep in debt from the gamble to take on the shogun, with no way out that I could see without enduring lots of time-consuming micro-management, with -3 stability, with war exhaustion, with a howl, I rage quit.

I know, you're thinking what a dumbass, but once I had 10 provinces under my belt Ashikaga and all their vassals would have declared on me anyway, I thought it best to attack them all on my terms. Japan's bloody hard! I should have dissolved all alliances before making a move, gone a bit more over force limit to handle the waves of soldiers. I'm assuming owning Kyoto would have been the key to becoming shogun and then from that point I'd have just needed to improve relations with my new vassals. Siiiigh.

Anyway. After the Spain update, I'm gonna try England and colonization next. (though I'm thinking I'll probably start my first CK2 playthrough if Holy Fury drops sooner)

In the meantime, I'm going to try out the Total War franchise with Shogun 2. Should be child's play in comparison to my 38 hours endurance of EU4's complicated button spaghetti.
Some few things:
-You shouldnt really grab Kyoto until the end, as being the shogun is more of a mess than it is worth it as you can only really absorb diplomatically.
-If you are in a war, even if you break the alliance he will still be in the war with you, so what you tried to do doesnt make sense.
-After the war, there is a truce that the AI wont break so you would have had 10 years of peace to prepare yourself for the next war, so you should have just taken some key provinces and maintained the alliance.
-Owning Kyoto makes you the shogun but again, it isnt really worth it if you want to rush Japan because diploannexing is a pain in the ass.

About colonization: Castille (or Portugal) are better situated for it and the european AI (that is mainly France) doesnt tend to attack you (even then you can easily have alliances and fortify the entrances to the peninsula). They are better situated for a colonization game and also to get some nice sweet cross african conquest.


Is Stellaris good to go or is there a big update just around the corner?

I know the Megacorp expansion is coming soon but in terms of updating the core game is it all set or are we waiting for a major update?

Already answered but Stellaris is pretty good right now. The next update that we have no idea when it is launching, will revamp all the internal politics and the way population works, so it will be kinda of a different game.
 

karnage10

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,499
Portugal
Is Stellaris good to go or is there a big update just around the corner?

I know the Megacorp expansion is coming soon but in terms of updating the core game is it all set or are we waiting for a major update?

IMO stellaris has been great from the start. Obviously it has a lot of features that should have worked better at launch however it is, to my knowledge, the only space strategy game that really makes you feel you are exploring a galaxy full of wonder and mysteries. It is designed to make you feel like you are a species raising to galactic level of interaction; it reminds me a lot of star trek and mass effect, in a way that there is a galaxy full of species, some strong military others economically and very few are just weird. For example you have fallen empires which are very advanced empires that stagnated in their development, as you start your game you are "forced" to answer the whims os such powerful empires but late game when an inter galatic species decides to destroy your galaxy this empire can rally all the species in the galaxy for one last stand against the invaders.


The best features of stellaris are:
- lots of events when you are exploring the galaxy -> make each playthrough very different from each other
- Ethics of the empire -> make each empire feel different
- covers a lot of sci-fi cliché -> federations, AI empires (DLC), space whales, mighty creatures (DLC), extra galactic invaders, tiranids/zergs, cyborgs, megastructures (DLC), death star (DLC),wormholes,etc.
- Lots of species portraits -> mamalians, reptiles, birds, plants (DLC), fungi ,etc


The weak points of stellaris:
- AI has a hard time keeping up with the player
- diplomacy is too simple for this type of game
- late game is a bit too repetitive -> a lot of micro when your empire grows to a certain size (will probably be addressed next patch)
- playing tall is not as good as playing wide (will probably be addressed next patch)

IMO stellaris is a great game however with each patch and each DLC the devs keep adding more depth and more content, this is making the game closer and closer to the best space 4X game ever made.
 

cognizant

Member
Dec 19, 2017
13,751
Been watching a lot of Quill's stuff, that was pretty funny. Does anyone watch Pravus Gaming's YT channel? He recently finished his attempt at getting the True Heir of Timur achievement. The last episode was hilarious, dude was frantic, his country imploding from a million rebellions, it was nail-biting stuff.

In other news, after my first 2 disastrous games as a EU4 noob, my 3rd playthrough is going very well. I've got 80 hours total playtime in the convoluted world of EU4, and I'm currently up to the year 1509 as Mongolia. Challenging but fun times. Had to spawn the Renaissance myself rather than wait centuries for it to reach me, the tech penalty is brutal.