How the game compares to Stellaris

[Valen55]

So the artwork is great, I haven't listened to the music really and the gameplay is refreshing compared to Stellaris considering the warp stuff and tech changes as well as resource changes. But is anyone else not finding this game that interesting? I mean this seems to be the optimal strategy maybe and the rest of the game is probably cleaning up the other empires once I've run out of systems to expand into. So far as I know there's no midgame crisis... there's no federations or similar except for defensive pacts. I'm sure the borg crisis is somewhat interesting but if that's the only challenging part of the game ehh. Even with increased difficulty there wouldn't be that much variety. I'm sure I'll enjoy the game for roughly 100 hours with a first and second playthrough and maybe it's a good introduction to paradox games for some people but I doubt it has much depth. I don't know that there's many changes that could be done to improve it considering the setting only has four main factions. Anyway these are just my thoughts... but is anyone else having similar thoughts and experiences?

 

[mike8472]

Well firstly Stellaris has had 8 years of post-game release development, so you really need to compare this to Stellaris 1.0.

I am really enjoying the game, really immersive with all the Star Trek lore. As the Federation the Cardassians attacked me 5 years into the game and proceeded to clean warp cores due to their superior ships. They start with strong bonuses to their starting ships in comparison to the Federation. So, I lost that war. Playing on Commodore level.
I really enjoy the Officer mechanic, which is a nice change from Stellaris, no more instantly producing hundreds of ships in mere months, no you need trained Officers to crew them and even then, it takes about 6 months for them to reach full crew levels. Really like that. Then you have limits on Warp ranges, so you need a supply network of StarBase's to expand and go on the offensive, another good point Stellaris lacks.
There is a lot this game is missing in comparison to Stellaris, of course there is when Stellaris is up to over 300 Dev Diaries on changes, it has been rebuilt nearly 3 times over now. Numerous expansions and species packs. This game has the same potential Stellaris had on launch but for a Star Trek Universe.

Try the game on Grand Admiral then come back and tell us how you went and what strategies you need to do to win.

 

[Calvax]

I’ve played for about 10 hours so far and while I didn’t have a bad time I don’t have a compulsion to come back to it. I probably will do but I think this feeling comes down to the fact infinite it doesn’t have distinct stages of play like Stellaris.

For all of my play time as the federation I was essentially doing the same thing. Steadily expanding, developing planets, and getting minor nations to join me. The missions are interesting but some of them are linked to RNG or feel too simple.

By contrast in Stellaris the early game feels quite different to the mid and late game. The early game is all about exploration, charting important hyperlanes for choke points, meeting neighbours that could be major threats or allies. The mid game has consolidation typically with a few wars, the galactic community and the khan as well as the formation of federations/overlords and vassals.
The late game typically has big fights, megastructures, the crisis etc.

 

[Synen]

I would like to see the minor powers growing a lot bigger and faster over time then they are now so that they are more of a challenge and potential threat to their neighbouring major powers. Sort of having them be a midgame crisis. As it stands they're just a quick, cheap and easy way to expand.

 

[Valen55]

I would like to see the minor powers growing a lot bigger and faster over time then they are now so that they are more of a challenge and potential threat to their neighbouring major powers. Sort of having them be a midgame crisis. As it stands they're just a quick, cheap and easy way to expand.

Agreed. But would it be Star Trek then?

 

[Synen]

Agreed. But would it be Star Trek then?

The Klingons send a fleet to the Breen to conquer them and the fleet was never heard from again. The Federation had numerous border skirmishes/conflicts with countless species. So clearly in the lore the major powers both challenged and were challenged by minor powers.

I think that species like the Breen, Gorn and Tholians could be great additions to the game as minor powers growing to become midgame threats.

 

[Insterstellar2161]

The Gorn were already a major power in the mid-23rd century.

 

[Cassilda]

The game is fun, but I feel like it lacks a bit of the latest addition that "main" Stellaris has. On the other hand, if Star Trek Infinite gets even half the development post launch that Stellaris had, it will be absolutely great as Star Trek has more than half century to lore that can be integrated into the game, while Stellaris is all about being "the definitive sci-fi sandbox". Both philosophies are great in their own right, they just can't really be compared in my opinion.

One thing that Star Trek Infinite should already have in my opinion are different starting dates, as the canon has an established timeline. Lost of details should be addressed, like missing Remans and Risians, Bajorans not having a native planet, and I guess other species that are not placed on the map as for now but they should be, especially if they are too small to get a proper DLC on their own.
Somewhat, I got the feeling that Star Trek Infinite is a bit unpolished for a release, like the older PDX titles: strange bugs like Jenaway being of the player chosen nation ethnicity, Bajorans "missing their homeworld" or science ships being unable to avoid automatically reality rifts make the game seem "rushed" and not tested enough "in-house" before the release. This is a pity, luckily, Star Trek is a long standing fandom, so there is all the time to fix these issues, still, the game would have felt better if immediately visible bugs would have cleared before publishing.
I also miss the galaxy size slider and the possibility to set the endgame date.

Planets looks so much better on Star Trek Infinite than in Stellaris: habitable planets don't have exactly the same to be fully habitable. Just in an unfinished campaign, I've seen at least four different types of "M class" planets that can be inhabited, all staying graphically diverse with no need to alter your species or do terraforming to have that 100%, and from a roleplay perspective, ruling on planets that actually look different from each other is quite great.

I think that Ferengi, Breen, Orions and the Dominion or playable Borg will get their own DLCs in the future, so the galaxy will feel more populated in the future. Ferengi and Orions would feel great as Infinite equivalent of the Megacorp DLC for base Stellaris, the Borg will be for the Syntetic Dawn equivalent and Breen and Dominion should be great for a specific "DS9/Dominion War" pack.

The sound is unfortunately, where Star Trek Infinite can't compare to classic Stellaris. The music is too low, the music sliders aren't enough to make it clearly audible, the voice acting while is probably not bad as some have described it, is clearly not Star Trek material.

 

[Volbound]

Agreed. But would it be Star Trek then?

Yeah, issue is that if the Minors expand, they would block you from exploring. Right now, the map is more open to explore vs a typical Stellaris game or even Star Trek New Horizon (minus their BOTF mod)

 

[Volbound]

The game is fun, but I feel like it lacks a bit of the latest addition that "main" Stellaris has. On the other hand, if Star Trek Infinite gets even half the development post launch that Stellaris had, it will be absolutely great as Star Trek has more than half century to lore that can be integrated into the game, while Stellaris is all about being "the definitive sci-fi sandbox". Both philosophies are great in their own right, they just can't really be compared in my opinion.

One thing that Star Trek Infinite should already have in my opinion are different starting dates, as the canon has an established timeline. Lost of details should be addressed, like missing Remans and Risians, Bajorans not having a native planet, and I guess other species that are not placed on the map as for now but they should be, especially if they are too small to get a proper DLC on their own.
Somewhat, I got the feeling that Star Trek Infinite is a bit unpolished for a release, like the older PDX titles: strange bugs like Jenaway being of the player chosen nation ethnicity, Bajorans "missing their homeworld" or science ships being unable to avoid automatically reality rifts make the game seem "rushed" and not tested enough "in-house" before the release. This is a pity, luckily, Star Trek is a long standing fandom, so there is all the time to fix these issues, still, the game would have felt better if immediately visible bugs would have cleared before publishing.
I also miss the galaxy size slider and the possibility to set the endgame date.

Planets looks so much better on Star Trek Infinite than in Stellaris: habitable planets don't have exactly the same to be fully habitable. Just in an unfinished campaign, I've seen at least four different types of "M class" planets that can be inhabited, all staying graphically diverse with no need to alter your species or do terraforming to have that 100%, and from a roleplay perspective, ruling on planets that actually look different from each other is quite great.

I think that Ferengi, Breen, Orions and the Dominion or playable Borg will get their own DLCs in the future, so the galaxy will feel more populated in the future. Ferengi and Orions would feel great as Infinite equivalent of the Megacorp DLC for base Stellaris, the Borg will be for the Syntetic Dawn equivalent and Breen and Dominion should be great for a specific "DS9/Dominion War" pack.

The sound is unfortunately, where Star Trek Infinite can't compare to classic Stellaris. The music is too low, the music sliders aren't enough to make it clearly audible, the voice acting while is probably not bad as some have described it, is clearly not Star Trek material.

What do you mean about Bajor? They have their planet in the game.

 

[mike8472]

The Klingons send a fleet to the Breen to conquer them and the fleet was never heard from again. The Federation had numerous border skirmishes/conflicts with countless species. So clearly in the lore the major powers both challenged and were challenged by minor powers.

I think that species like the Breen, Gorn and Tholians could be great additions to the game as minor powers growing to become midgame threats.

Agree, I like that idea. That should have some limits on them, but they should be able to grow enough to a thorn in the side of a major power.

 

[Cassilda]

What do you mean about Bajor? They have their planet in the game.

They have Bajor on the map, but for some reason, Bajorans are listed as a species without a native home world if a player hovers on them on the species list.
It's just a minor bug of course, but I feel is the kind that makes someone think that the game was barely tried before release.

 

[VILenin]

The game is definitely a bit bare-bones at the moment. I actually think the "bones" of the game are pretty good, but the lack of content at the moment is definitely going to limit the amount of play time. More races and more paths in the mission trees are the big ones for me.