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Stellaris Dev Diary #348 - Tips From the Devs for the Stellaris Free Weekend!

Stellaris is having a free weekend! Tell your friends! It starts tonight and will run through Monday.

We’ve asked the Dev team for some tips to help new players out during their first steps out into the wondrous unknown.

Some Tips From the Devs​

  • Don't forget to unpause the game, but don't be afraid to pause it again if you need time to think. - Eladrin
  • The different options in empire creation aren’t created equally, some empires will be more powerful than others, but regardless you’ll get more enjoyment out of the game by playing what you find fun (or what you find the idea of to be fun) without looking up the “perfect build”. - Alfray Stryke
  • Buildings don't produce Resources, Jobs produce Resources! Just because you've built a shiny new Research Lab doesn't mean there's anyone working there. Click the Population tab to learn more! - OK_Television_391
  • Stellaris has mid-game and end-game crises that you might not be able to defeat on your first try. Each defeat makes your eventual triumph more satisfying. - Eladrin
  • Read the tooltips. - PDX_Ferry
  • Not every Species eats food, some eat energy and others minerals. - Paradoxical_Nikname
  • Got a neighbor that closed the borders and rivaled you? It is a matter of time before they will declare war on you. Choose a choke point, build a star base, upgrade it with defense buildings. It might be just enough to defend the border, but for extra measure you can also build some defense platforms on the station or station your fleet there.This will enable you to mostly ignore that aggressive neighbor and focus on expanding/exploring the other direction.
  • Losing a war isn't losing the game, enjoy your moments of vengeful plotting as much as your triumphs. - Beals
  • Just because you've got slightly more fleet power than an enemy, it doesn't mean you're definitely going to win.
  • If the notifications are too spammy (or not spammy enough), you can configure them in the settings. - pthooie
  • A few Origins are more challenging than others. Doomsday, Broken Shackles, and Payback start you off with some major challenges to overcome, and may be better to save until you have a few games under your belt. - Eladrin
  • Don't worry too much about what people say is best. Making an empire with a cool backstory will keep you entertained a lot longer than one with perfect numbers! - Iggy
  • Make sure you expand you fleet early on, or you might be prey to the first neighbour you find. - Paradoxical_Nikname
  • Your pops will love the Holo-Theater building.- PDX_Ferry
  • As expected in a sci-fi game, Research is king, however this means Unity is queen - don’t neglect the development of your empire’s Tradtions in pursuit of new Technologies. - Alfray Stryke
  • If you spawn next to a Criminal syndicate, keep an eye on your planets, or you might get overwhelmed by crime. - Paradoxical_Nikname
    • Correction: If you spawn next to a criminal syndicate, blow it up - Beals
  • Pops > Everything. Want to increase your power in the galaxy? Colonize, boost Pop Growth Speed, encourage Immigration... But whatever method you choose, remember ABP: "Always Be Poppin!" - OK_Television_391
  • For single player, it's good to queue up your science ship exploration and pick your first three technologies to research before you un-pause.
  • Set up a monthly trade in the Market to get missing resources.- PDX_Ferry
  • Be brave and break things, choose a clearly wrong choice, make mistakes, crack open that ancient tomb, the galaxy is yours and full of wonders! - Beals
  • But most of all, have fun, and thanks for playing Stellaris! - Eladrin

Do you have any tips for the new explorers? Share them!

Eat the Envoys​

Stellaris is partnering with Makeship to produce a limited edition Stellaris Starfish plushie!

They may have destroyed Europa VII, but we can still be friends, right?

What’s Next?​

Summer vacations are here, so this will be the last dev diary until mid-August, when we will return with information about Cosmic Storms and the Stellaris 3.13 “Vela” update.

Have a great summer, and thank you for playing Stellaris!
 
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Eladrin said:
Mostly messing around with things we're planning to use in future releases.

Though my side pet project is trying to figure out what's causing some quirks in galaxy generation that are creating far too many habitable worlds. You've probably seen screenshots like this.

View attachment 1150833
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Is it possible primitives spawning in create their own planets as of the update that gave them origins? I seem to remember it starting about then.

I have no idea if that's true, but the timing lines up. It seems like my number of planets is relatively normal UNLESS a ton of them happen to be primitives. I get basically the expected density of non-primitive worlds, but then I'll find a system that has (literally, in my last game) 6 planets, 4 of them having primitives.
 
Eladrin said:
Mostly messing around with things we're planning to use in future releases.

Though my side pet project is trying to figure out what's causing some quirks in galaxy generation that are creating far too many habitable worlds. You've probably seen screenshots like this.
Click to expand...

Wasn't that because planets with pre-sapient species are generated separately from the habitable planets slider?
 
Eladrin said:
Mostly messing around with things we're planning to use in future releases.

Though my side pet project is trying to figure out what's causing some quirks in galaxy generation that are creating far too many habitable worlds. You've probably seen screenshots like this.

View attachment 1150833
Click to expand...
As a sparse-galaxy enjoyer, I'm excited that this is getting looked into!

In case it's relevant to your investigation (and you're not aware already), the habitable worlds slider does not decrease planets by the amount it should. For example, 0.25x is actually more like 0.55x. I tested this with AI empires, fallen empires, primitives, and guaranteed habitables all off. I also disabled (via a custom mod) all unique/special solar systems initializers containing guaranteed habitables, so the only source of habitables is random habitables. It seems probable that the "too many planets in general" issue and the "too many planets on 0.25x relative to 1.0x" issue share a root cause.

Good luck!

PS: I'm happy to answer any questions, or provide a mod to disable special systems if that's helpful
 
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Eladrin said:
Don't forget to unpause the game, but don't be afraid to pause it again if you need time to think. - Eladrin
Click to expand...
This one can be used for all Paradox GSGs
 
>>
  • Don't worry too much about what people say is best. Making an empire with a cool backstory will keep you entertained a lot longer than one with perfect numbers! - Iggy
Thank you Iggy for saying those words. The game should really bring more experience and emotion than chasing numbers in the form of a perfect balance. I wish you to continue working on the game in this vein :)
 
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Eladrin said:
Those existed six years ago!

View attachment 1150839
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Noooo....
1718915491747.png
 
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I do kinda wonder what to do with my bug reports that have gotten buried down the forum for two patches now x'D Like I don't think they got fixed in changelog, but I feel like bumping them up would be breaking some kind of etiquette
 
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  • The different options in empire creation aren’t created equally, some empires will be more powerful than others, but regardless you’ll get more enjoyment out of the game by playing what you find fun (or what you find the idea of to be fun) without looking up the “perfect build”. - Alfray Stryke
Click to expand...

Getting this framed so I can tap it repeatedly any time I need to.
 
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The key to defeating a more powerful neighbour is to build a starbase at a chokepoint, and put your fleet one system behind it, right next to the jump point. Then when they jump into the starbase system, send your fleet in. They'll calculate they can win against the starbase, but if your fleet is powerful enough it'll tip the balance. Othewise, they won't attack your starbase/chokepoint unless they're sure they can win, which just gives them a new starbase.

You can also build a few (1-3) defense platforms when you see them a system away and heading towards you. Again, the idea is for them to come online after the enemy is already committed.

If an enemy is just too strong, period, get a defensive alliance. Consider putting a spy in the rivalled empired so you get some warning of the attack (only, I think, if you can get at least 30 infil/intelligence.)
 
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Also, don't accept any diplomatic pact you don't need. NEVER accept a non-aggression pact, no one who intends to attack you will offer one. Defensive alliances are particularly expensive, don't take one if you don't really need it, and get rid of it as soon as you can stand without it. Influence, especially in the early game, is precious and you won't have enough. Diplomatic agreements cost influence.
 
Taritu said:
Also, don't accept any diplomatic pact you don't need. NEVER accept a non-aggression pact, no one who intends to attack you will offer one. Defensive alliances are particularly expensive, don't take one if you don't really need it, and get rid of it as soon as you can stand without it. Influence, especially in the early game, is precious and you won't have enough. Diplomatic agreements cost influence.
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Non-aggression pacts are tools for building trust, not a means of blocking others from attacking you, for the reason you stated.

It's not true that you should never take one. Trust is a valuable stat.
 
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Taritu said:
Also, don't accept any diplomatic pact you don't need. NEVER accept a non-aggression pact, no one who intends to attack you will offer one. Defensive alliances are particularly expensive, don't take one if you don't really need it, and get rid of it as soon as you can stand without it. Influence, especially in the early game, is precious and you won't have enough. Diplomatic agreements cost influence.
Click to expand...

It's certainly true that influence is important in the early game but valuing it so much that you never accept non-aggression is valuing unity too highly. An NAP builds trust allowing you to get more useful treaties, like picking up a defensive pact with a trusted neighbour when another starts prepping for war. It's also sometimes worth spending that influence to ensure a neighbour stays off your back so you can focus on expansion without needing to invest in alloys.

And if you are hurting for influence in the early game don't forget about proactive first contact and expanding your fleet. Simply spamming out a full corvette fleet once you have the spare alloys can boost your power projection and proactive first contact means everyone you meet gets you most of the cost of an outpost.
 
Calvax said:
It's certainly true that influence is important in the early game but valuing it so much that you never accept non-aggression is valuing unity too highly. An NAP builds trust allowing you to get more useful treaties, like picking up a defensive pact with a trusted neighbour when another starts prepping for war. It's also sometimes worth spending that influence to ensure a neighbour stays off your back so you can focus on expansion without needing to invest in alloys.

And if you are hurting for influence in the early game don't forget about proactive first contact and expanding your fleet. Simply spamming out a full corvette fleet once you have the spare alloys can boost your power projection and proactive first contact means everyone you meet gets you most of the cost of an outpost.
Click to expand...

I find that with proactive the other empire usually makes contact before me. Generally I prefer cautious, which also has the bonus of making the deaths of my (often precious) scientists less likely.
 
Taritu said:
I find that with proactive the other empire usually makes contact before me. Generally I prefer cautious, which also has the bonus of making the deaths of my (often precious) scientists less likely.
Click to expand...
And I find that cautious play (keeping my science ships out of range of alien sensors) keeps that at bay even with proactive approach.
 
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