Stellaris Dev Diary #140 - 2.2.x post-launch patch v2

[Badesumofu]

Understandable concern. I'll let you know though, that I have intentionally planned the next DLC so that we will have the resources to make more improvements

What I’ve been hoping for is extended post-release support followed by the next DLC being focused on content rather than mechanics meaning that it will be less likely to break stuff while also keeping programmers and designers relatively free to work on fixing things. Sounds kind of like that’s the direction you’re going in which I find really promising.

 

[Metztli]

My planetary UI looks even bettter:

So please, at least don't ruin any current UI functionality. It will be just sad to update it yet again.

What mod you are using ?

 

[Harlot]

Sorry Grekulf. If you think that is going to quell the uproar that your original post caused, then you are mistaken.

No one posting here thought that you were going to ‘stop making improvements to the game’. We are all fully aware that there will be more DLCs and patches in the future. What all the anger is about is that, barely 50 days after promising ‘extensive’ post-patch support, we are getting the ‘final’ patch for 2.2. And I think you know that, so your disingenuousness in pretending otherwise just adds fuel to the fire.

Let's not disregard Daniel's followup comment here. He did make it clear that the next piece of content has development scheduled in a way that will allow them to put the required focus on lingering issues. We can continue to focus on patch numbering and on what really "final" means, but what really matters in the end, is that the issues reported by the community, continue to receive attention, which they will.

 

[HighKings_Ruin]

What mod you are using ?

I'd like to know too, that UI is amazing.

 

[Gaen]

Feel like most people only read the first paragraph of the DD and then went stright on to post angry comments...

 

[Metztli]

I'm sorry Paradox but can someone of you guys try to play wide (even on a medium galaxy) and feel the "amazing" experience of managing +20 planets ?
I surely hope this "last patch" will fix the major problems with administrating your planets manually because is truly abysmal and unfun currently
(talking about of manually going through your planets to use a simple decision like "increase growth" or micro managing the population and buildings that also gets really tedious late game when you have a lot of planets).

 

[AlphaAsh]

I'm sorry Paradox but can someone of you guys try to play wide (even on a medium galaxy) and feel the "amazing" experience of managing +20 planets ?
I surely hope this "last patch" will fix the major problems with administrating your planets manually because is truly abysmal and unfun currently
(talking about of manually going through your planets to use a simple decision like "increase growth" or micro managing the population and buildings that also gets really tedious late game when you have a lot of planets).

The issue here is unchanged. It is a matter of taste. One of the reasons I play Stellaris is because I enjoy micro-management. I like the control. I like the repetition. Whilst it is a major element of 'clicker' games, it is an 'addiction' that I prefer satisfied by a far more intelligent and less money-grubbing game such as this 4X/GS from PDX.

Take that out and I go looking elsewhere for my fix. I think the Stellaris devs know I am not the only one.

 

[Kayden_II]

I've opened windows-paint and I've figured out, that the tiny UI allows to display just 24 "free" district-boxes, respectively 18 district-boxes (aka the ones for alloys, consumer-goods and unity), respectively 12 city-district-boxes, so what if I have a colony, which exceeds these limits ? - Then ?

When the number of a district exceeds 15, you show a number inside a larger box, like shown in the image.

Yeah, but altough 9 city-district-boxes are just displayed, 11 city-districts are actually builded. It's confusing. If any (and it's just 1 possible solution), let the (smaller) boxes disappear (in the case, that they exceed the limit of 15) and display ONLY the larger box (with the actual numbers).
+
It's also not that "helpful" (and therefore, it's confusing, too), that the displayed world-size isn't a hard-limit anymore in regards to the possible amount of (buildable) districts since in this case, the displayed world-size = 20, but the "actual" one = 21 since there're 14 districts (11 city-ones + 1 alloy-one + 2 consumer-goods-ones) already builded + 7 "free" ones left ...

Let's not disregard Daniel's followup comment here. He did make it clear that the next piece of content has development scheduled in a way that will allow them to put the required focus on lingering issues. We can continue to focus on patch numbering and on what really "final" means, but what really matters in the end, is that the issues reported by the community, continue to receive attention, which they will.

I've red the statements, but at least for me, they're still not clearly enough formulated:
01. Do they already work on the next DLC ? ...
02. Right after this upcoming and big and "final" post-release-patch, do they work on an or even several other post-release-patche(s) (WITHOUT working on the next DLC) ? ...
03. Right after this upcoming and big and "final" post-release-patch, do they work on the next DLC ?

 

[Metztli]

The issue here is unchanged. It is a matter of taste. One of the reasons I play Stellaris is because I enjoy micro-management. I like the control. I like the repetition. Whilst it is a major element of 'clicker' games, it is an 'addiction' that I prefer satisfied by a far more intelligent and less money-grubbing game such as this 4X/GS from PDX.

Take that out and I go looking elsewhere for my fix. I think the Stellaris devs know I am not the only one.

This is not a matter of taste at all because playing wide was fine before the MegaCorp expansion.
Also don't get me wrong I like managing my planets and the new more in depth economy but obviously to some extend, there is a line that when it's crossed it's actually starting to hurt the gameplay. It's really hard for me to believe that even a guy like you will find anything remotely fun in managing 50 planets in 2.2.5. The combination of tedious repetition and late game lag is simply killing the game when you reach a certain state and you start to ask yourself are you even playing a game by this point.
One of the main reasons this problem persist currently is because the sector AI is useless together with the worsened sector borders that you are not able to control anymore ( the somewhat "decent" sector AI was great help when conquering new territories previously).
Making playing tall viable was one of the best features of patch 2.2 but it should not be the only way to play, simply because the game is artificially restricting you from trying to "paint the map" which is what most of the Paradox games are known for.

 

[Harlot]

View attachment 451038
I've red the statements, but at least for me, they're still not clear enough formulated:
01. Do they already work on the next DLC ? ...
02. Right after this upcoming and big and "final" post-release-patch, do they work on an or even several other post-release-patche(s) (WITHOUT working on the next DLC) ? ...
03. Right after this upcoming and big and "final" post-release-patch, do they work on the next DLC ?

I feel like the answer to your questions is contained more in the philosophy of project management in general, not this patch in particular. Let me give you a rough rundown.

The development process itself, never snaps end to end. It never goes straight from point A to B to C. You work with various resources, multiple people with varying skillsets, availability (this is a growing company and we help each other out sometimes) and efficiency. There are bottlenecks and multiple elements that have to come together to meet a single goal or create a product. Sometimes you're ahead with art, other times sound recording was done first or programmers have some work hours to spare. When that happens, you want them to work on something else, and not sit around and wait for someone else to be done with their part of the work. It's simply a matter of efficiency.

In addition, every project lead, has a rough idea of what's in the project's future. Most of you probably saw the development roadmap Wiz has been sharing on the forums. With that knowledge, we can determine what feature will require more work and we can start planning it ahead of others. So elements of certain updates sometimes start development way sooner than others. An example of that would be Martin working on the planetary management rework for 2.2, as soon as 2.0 and Apocalypse were done. And you all know that in that time we also managed to release Distant Stars. In fact, we were even showing prototype screenshots at PDX Con to the audience.

So, to sum, up, of course elements of the next DLC, or even two updates ahead, have had some groundwork laid out already. Those of our devs who could spare the time, wrote down design documents, or drafted basic art. Even sitting in a meeting room and scribbling on a whiteboard is still work, and it has been done even while 2.2 was in development. That is how managing a project with so many moving parts works, and that is how 2.2, its post release phase and any and all future updates for our games will work too, from the workflow management point of view.

That said, what was stated before, was of course accurate also. We are now in a dedicated post-release support phase for 2.2 and that was the team's main focus. Now, as we progress and feel that maintaining multiple branches of the game is costing us efficiency and resources, we try to start moving some of our devs to work on the next update, while designing it in a way, that will allow us to still give the issues you've been reporting deserved attention.

 

[(Accountdeleted)]

... the sector AI is useless ...

This affects every playstyle, because I guess the AI will always use this sector AI. Improving that will not only help those who want to play wide - but also everyone who wants to play the game with at least one AI opponent. The sector AI should be that good, that one could easily switch over to it - without crippling the "empire". For me I probably wouldn´t use it anyway - but it has to be an option which is viable.

So this shouldn´t be about different playstyles - and preferences. Leads to nothing.

 

[Jotoco]

The dev team addressed this before. Sectors aren't a simple tweak, so while they'll possibly get another look, it's something that needs more time to be done. Just because a feature isn't introduced/changed, doesn't mean it's not going to be.

So, you mean you're going to leave that feature broken for after the next DLC?

I was hoping for 2 ~3 months of support before any more DLC, because that's what is needed right now.

 

[Harlot]

So, you mean you're going to leave that feature broken for after the next DLC?

I was hoping for 2 ~3 months of support before any more DLC, because that's what is needed right now.

I can only recommend you read my last comment (https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...-launch-patch-v2.1152783/page-7#post-25166166) before jumping to that conclusion, as well as Daniel's post: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...-launch-patch-v2.1152783/page-6#post-25165777

It should give you an idea of our priorities and how the dev team's resources are managed.

 

[Ciderglove]

I can only recommend you read my last comment (https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...-launch-patch-v2.1152783/page-7#post-25166166) before jumping to that conclusion, as well as Daniel's post: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...-launch-patch-v2.1152783/page-6#post-25165777

It should give you an idea of our priorities and how the dev team's resources are managed.

To paraphrase, you mean ‘Yes, we are going to leave Sectors broken until the next DLC.’

 

[Desolator_X]

Understandable concern. I'll let you know though, that I have intentionally planned the next DLC so that we will have the resources to make more improvements

"intentionally planned the next DLC" you see, the next DLC shouldn't even *be* planned beyond the art department. The game is still a absolutely humongous mess, with a ton of things (AI and performance as absolute worst) not working as they should. Balance has also gone out the window, both between empire types and ships sizes and that's been like that for a couple of versions now. These things should be addressed first, before half the programmers get moved to DLC development again

 

[Harlot]

To paraphrase, you mean ‘Yes, we are going to leave Sectors broken until the next DLC.’

Daniel made it clear that it's a bigger system that needs more attention and said it's a high priority for him. That said, the team won't hold work on everything else, while the sectors are being tackled, just to deliver a PR point. We have employees that want to continue work on other elements of the game in the meantime and they won't be benched to keep up appearances. It's important to everyone here to remain efficient, as, in the end, it's your money that funds this game's development, and we'd rather use it as well as we can.

 

[Desolator_X]

That said, what was stated before, was of course accurate also. We are now in a dedicated post-release support phase for 2.2 and that was the team's main focus. Now, as we progress and feel that maintaining multiple branches of the game is costing us efficiency and resources, we try to start moving some of our devs to work on the next update, while designing it in a way, that will allow us to still give the issues you've been reporting deserved attention.

Corporate speak for "we're moving on and will leave bugs be, since that's what we've always done and we are continuing with practices laid out in the past"

 

[maxp779]

Please.

Please tell me that you will look at sectors and give us back some of the previous options we had in past patches.

Thank you.

Every single time they talk about a new patch or something, i immediately ctrl+f and type "sectors" and find they have completely ignored it.. again.

At least acknowledge the amount of micro has increased dramatically and the new sector system isn't fit to cope with it!

 

[Harlot]

Every single time they talk about a new patch or something, i immediately ctrl+f and type "sectors" and find they have completely ignored it.. again.

At least acknowledge the amount of micro has increased dramatically and the new sector system isn't fit to cope with it!

I believe this is what you're looking for: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...-launch-patch-v2.1152783/page-6#post-25165777

 

[HighKings_Ruin]

The posts here have left me very worried. It's not hard to notice that certain questions and topics are being avoided or "dodged"