[crowdemon]

This is why I like Mondays, development diaries for Stellaris is so much fun. I can't wait for Stellaris to be release.

 

[steve.bd]

All those 3 scientists look so... evil

 

[grumphie]

what happens when you get presented with 3 not so nice tech's tho? let's say you've already got all the energy you'd ever want, and you'd get 3 tech options related to that, are you foreced to still pick one and see it through? or can you wait a while and have the tech's rerolled or something?in civ i'd sometimes ahve this problem with buildings in the early game - i'd have no particular need for certain buildings or units and in stead would rather not have them for a turn or two, and i'd just start working on a wonder until tech X would compelte and i could actually build somethign i want.

or when you're tryign to research a cool new laser, get in a war, and find out you instead have a horrible need for better ship hulls - will you be able to, within reason, actually be able to get what you need in a pinch? i'm all for making things instresting, but i'd get pretty frustrated if you knwo exactly what you need but can't get it because RNG. that's fine with rare tech's like developign an engine that can wit hstand a black hoel and take a shortcut throguht he event horizon, but pretty frustrating with something core and essential like not being able to improve your energy supply to cope with increasing demands form other techs, or not rolling the techs you need to upgrade a space station.

 

[Aries666]

I'm a little worried. If there are so many techs and there's no linear tree how can we evaluate other factions tech level? Especially with autogenerated techs. How do I know they have great lasers or industrial output?

That's a good things I don't think you could realistically evaluate the tech levels of neigbouring alien empires without (hopefully) using espionage.

 

[misterbean]

I think I will like having to play the hand I've been dealt. It will keep things interesting and fresh.

 

[grekulf]

Will there be techs that would be mutually exclusive to each other
like going biological path of a tech or a electronic path of a tech
that would give more unique to races
like one race would go down the biological path have these half tentacle looking ships
while others would go like a more standard futuristic ships
and etc

Somewhat. But the exclusivity comes more from ethics than from other tech choices. Collectivists and Individualists will have different approaches to colonization.

 

[EntropyAvatar]

or when you're tryign to research a cool new laser, get in a war, and find out you instead have a horrible need for better ship hulls - will you be able to, within reason, actually be able to get what you need in a pinch? i'm all for making things instresting, but i'd get pretty frustrated if you knwo exactly what you need but can't get it because RNG. that's fine with rare tech's like developign an engine that can wit hstand a black hoel and take a shortcut throguht he event horizon, but pretty frustrating with something core and essential like not being able to improve your energy supply to cope with increasing demands form other techs, or not rolling the techs you need to upgrade a space station.

Didn't someone once say something about winning first and then going to war?

Seriously though, dealing with the situation where you aren't getting the tech you want/need sounds interesting rather than frustrating, though those are basically two sides of the same coin.

 

[vyshan]

Are there other ways of learning what tech other empires have besides war? What of diplomacy or espionoge? I imagine if I have been long time allies with another species empire I would have some idea of what their techs are.

speaking of technology, would uplifting species be possible?

 

[valergain]

Hmmmmmm. Haven't learned much new stuff but this did confirm most theory's. Seems like a good system, keep it up.

 

[Safehold]

Wouldn't it be more strategical to have the weight for each technology (instead of the lone rareful ones), with a convenient tooltip explinaing the weight for each one?
I'm thinking to something like:

Chance of appearance:
Xenophobia: +10%
At war: -10%
Only 3 technologies in this field of reseach: -20%
Disgruntled Pops: -20%

This way, it could help to decide if such or such technology may be worth to be returned to the deck, at the risk it won't appear at all, or much later.

Looking in the CK2 files for special events during battle and years, they have a tier system. Each month or year, there's a chance to proc the event, but each separate event also has its chance modified or canceled by additional traits and requirements. The list can be pretty long, average by about 12 per event.

This seems to be a way to produce random events in CK2, For Stellaris, the UI probably can't include all the variables they scripted in.

 

[mwyeoh]

Although Ive kept up to date with this system, its still a really good read, especially since its so different to anything else which has been done before!
Keep up the good work!

 

[Praetori]

Hiding mechanics doesn't stop people from being min-maxers. Making the game interesting if you dont min-max stops people from being min-maxers. Or sometimes they do min-max and that is fine too, just so long as you dont need to.

I just dont get EUIV players...

Showing percentages and then having players NOT getting what they thought through random chance will only lead to frustration on the other hand. A good idea when creating content for human beings (be it a game or something else) is go avoid methods that present negative chances but rather present what-you-get as a bonus.

I'm intrigued by the tech-system presentation I must admit. I really don't like being forced to chose between exclusive options (I'm more of a Captain Kirk kind of guy to use sci-fi tropes) but this looks promising.

 

[Angkhan]

What is the next dev diary?

 

[Jormungandur]

What is the focus of the December 7th DD? May I ask...??

What is the next dev diary?

We'll explore a few internal Empire-mechanics, showing Policies and Edicts.

 

[poisonmushroom]

what happens when you get presented with 3 not so nice tech's tho? let's say you've already got all the energy you'd ever want, and you'd get 3 tech options related to that, are you foreced to still pick one and see it through? or can you wait a while and have the tech's rerolled or something?in civ i'd sometimes ahve this problem with buildings in the early game - i'd have no particular need for certain buildings or units and in stead would rather not have them for a turn or two, and i'd just start working on a wonder until tech X would compelte and i could actually build somethign i want.

or when you're tryign to research a cool new laser, get in a war, and find out you instead have a horrible need for better ship hulls - will you be able to, within reason, actually be able to get what you need in a pinch? i'm all for making things instresting, but i'd get pretty frustrated if you knwo exactly what you need but can't get it because RNG. that's fine with rare tech's like developign an engine that can wit hstand a black hoel and take a shortcut throguht he event horizon, but pretty frustrating with something core and essential like not being able to improve your energy supply to cope with increasing demands form other techs, or not rolling the techs you need to upgrade a space station.

That actually sounds really fun to me. I enjoy trying to deal with the low points of a playthrough more than I enjoy riding the highs. The energy crisis you mentioned sound like it could be an interesting era of your empire's history. Also imagine if you found a clever way to solve it, you'd really feel worthy of your title as king, prime minister, dictator etc.

Same with the idea of not knowing how technologically developed you are compared to other races. That would make espionage extremely useful and offer up some interesting tension when you're on the brink of war. Their weapons might be terrifyingly amazing, but you might find out after a few fights that their hulls are awful. Then you could try and steer your empire towards long range weaponry, which might become your empires fighting style for the whole game. All interesting to me!

 

[Kollatius]

It's nice to a system for tech that's not just "You require A tech to get tech B" and so forth

 

[CassCD]

Is there anything that you can tell us about the pacing of the game? The pacing of games like this tend to depend heavily on how powerful tech is and just how fast you acquire it. It can make a big difference, imo, and can make or break a game. To pin down a few specific questions that you could possibly answer, can you tell us just how many techs you hope to have in the game? How many can you expect to acquire by the yet to be determined end? Can you tell us anything about how much time has generally passed once you start defining the late-game the late-game? And are research times capable of being tweaked outside of the files, Civilization-style (Marathon, Epic, Quick, etc. speeds)? Have I asked too many questions yet?

 

[Kollatius]

Is there anything that you can tell us about the pacing of the game? The pacing of games like this tend to depend heavily on how powerful tech is and just how fast you acquire it. It can make a big difference, imo, and can make or break a game. To pin down a few specific questions that you could possibly answer, can you tell us just how many techs you hope to have in the game? How many can you expect to acquire by the yet to be determined end? Can you tell us anything about how much time has generally passed once you start defining the late-game the late-game? And are research times capable of being tweaked outside of the files, Civilization-style (Marathon, Epic, Quick, etc. speeds)? Have I asked too many questions yet?

I hope the spacing is at least ten times slower than Civ V marathon, even that feels FAST for me

 

[ImperatorSolarius]

Holy Terra, Power Armor, xenophobic politics, Theocracy..

 

[CassCD]

I hope the spacing is at least ten times slower than Civ V marathon, even that feels FAST for me

Well, I dunno about that much, but I definitely agree with that sentiment. . Nice, long games where, depending on the direction you push your tech, everything feels fresh not just over the course of multiple games, but exist within the very single game that you're playing. Make tech as much of a thrill to discover just as much as exploration of the galaxy, even when you replay a certain playstyle.