Stellaris

It's zen in a good way. You curate your little civilisation as they explore the stars. Only got a few hours in last night so have only started to scratch the surface.

Also friends with older computers report no issues running the game so that is nice.

I think one guy has a laptop 5 years+. Put it this way he has to play civ5 in strategic map mode.

I know I was just messing . Honestly the first review about how the guy was never attacked is a positive review for me. I am a turtler by nature so hate to be attacked. I enjoy setting back and building up my forces and eating away ant the world around me, slowly taking it over and always hate when some one declares war on me. It means I have to go away from advancing my civ and start building up a military machine.

Well, if you consider Space Diplomacy sexy... 

So after playing Stellaris MP for about eight hours I can say I really like it. The opening is fun (even though I've done it several times now) the strategy is complex. There are a lot of different things to juggle and like any paradox grand strategy game it plays a bit like a spreadsheet.

I think the game is definitely going to be more interesting multiplayer than single player and you have to realise you probably need 2-3 days to finish a multiplayer game.

The AI is strong but not particularly bright. It probably cheats it's ass off but the end product is a challenge for the player. All the human players who took on the AI in our game lost. In part this is due to us doing silly things but it also shows the player cant go into a fight at a disadvantage and just expect to role over the AI because they are a human which is the case in many other strategy games.

The multiplayer features are very good in terms of game setup, stability and the ability to hot join both if you drop and if you want to join mid game. The performance of the game even on weaker systems appears great. I really appreciate a developer building something that most people can play without compromise as opposed to a game for only the chosen few.

The game manages micro management very well. The limitation to five planets you directly manage seemed to some like a limitation but really it is a godsend. By the time you colonise five planets you know you couldn't directly manage anymore. The game is very well balanced in terms of activity, you always have just enough to do but not too much. This is in contrast to EU where you often reach for the fast forward.

The game is incredibly detailed and you have to want to manage that detail. However, I found it much easier to learn than EU and Hearts of Iron. There a lot of people who don't like this style and would hate the detail but for a certain group it's welcome. I find to enjoy paradox games you have to be prepared to role play a bit an explore the journey of your civilisation and how good they can do.

I'd highly recommend this game to people who like very detailed and ambitious strategy games. But you must understand before you buy what a paradox take on a 4X game is going to look like.

Ultimately this is a very ambitious game that moves a stale genre forward and reminds why procedural generation is great when used correctly. As with all paradox games there will be a million pieces of DLC and given the base they are working off I'm sure the game will go from strength to strength.

Just to give you one example of the cool things in this game. I built and observation post above an inferior species and chose to abduct and perform experiments on them (it generated good research points). After a while they formed a global coalition to fight back. I never saw the result of this but I curtailed my experiments so as not to do permanent harm to the relationship. My end goal was to uplift them and make them my vassal. I didn't get that far but these are the interesting stories the game tells.

I picked this up last friday and have to say it's one of the most fun strategy games I've played. There's just so much to do and it has potential for storytelling to rival Crusader Kings 2.

For example, I'm playing humans and quickly find myself sandwiched between two rival alien nations. This turns my empire into a long arm that meanders a bit around. One side is a friendly species that begs me to join their new federation. The other is a standoffish group of xenophobes that refuse to engage in any diplomacy but aren't particularly aggressive. As time passes, it becomes more and more difficult to find expansion systems and I wish those quiet neighbors would start up something to give me an excuse.

One of the planets along the border with the unfriendly nation contains a primitive race that I set up an observation post and watch. They are on the verge of space travel so I decide to go all Big Brother's program and mentor them into the messy wide world. They reach space, form their own little nation, and join me as a vassal.

Apparently, the xenophobes took offense to these upstarts and promptly declare war on the new guys. This drags me in. Me going in drags the full federation in. The next thing I know, we're occupying a half-dozen of the xenophobes' planets and are wiping out their fleet with wanton abandon. My military was actually pretty mediocre and I found myself moving my forces around with shadow fleets from my allies. When the smoke cleared, we protected the new guys, gave back all the planets, and went back to our business.

The xenophobes were quiet for a short while but just couldn't let it go. They declared war a surprisingly short time later and were hammered into submission. The previous war had taught me a lot about fleet logistics and I was ready. This time, I pretty much fronted the fighting and it ended much sooner. Rather than letting this go on, I offered the vassals to just join my nation as full-fledged members. They agreed and I gained another inhabited world to my empire. The xenophobes, apparently seeing the writing on the wall, established an embassy. This time, they'd lost some systems to an ally of mine and they offered to open up trade. I hope they'll warm up, chill out, and eventually join our federation. Well, I'm bucking for civilian access so my explorers can check out this interesting anomaly we spotted in their space some time back. I seem to be on track to get my wish...

That's what I like about the game. I find the initial stages surprisingly enjoyable despite it being a repeat of the same process with slightly different procedural generation factors. I'm really interested to see where they take this with updates and DLC. Normally I hate DLC but with this game I feel like they've provided fair value in the initial release and everything else is voluntary enhancement.

The late game gets slow if you're trying to play nice guys. I've hit a point where everyone's just sitting around staring at each other. Even worse, extra-galactic aliens called Prethoryn have shown up on the opposite side of the galaxy. I can't get to them because of rivalries and I'm trapped watching a train wreck over there. I'm half inclined to invade my friendly neighbors because they would rather lose everything than grant me military access to their space.

When settling on a new planet, if you've the tech, it's a good idea to genetically modify the settlers to thrive on that planet's type. It gives less chance of them wanting to break away later on.