I absolutely hate Stellaris now - The Grand Archive & Cosmic Storms Experience

[Groggeneral]

I didn't play during cosmic storms and wanted try out both Cosmic Storms and the Grand Archive now.

Here is my experience: Its Year 2269 (less than 70 years into the game) on captain difficulty with the prebuilt Oviron Lodge Empire. Captain difficulty is usually easily doable for me (ie a good difficulty where i don't need to cheese diplomacy hacks etc.).
The strongest empire in the galaxy currently has a fleet of 14k, one has ~ 10k the rest have a lot less, many empires have 0 fleet left. I'm dead.

Because of the voidworms.

This is around 450.000 fleet power of aggressive space fauna in just one system. They attacked my capital world with 40k, 3 of 4 colonies with 10k each and bombarded the planets constantly. I just researched destroyer ships and the first swarmer missile technology! I couldn't choose to be friendly with them, no option for diplomacy or avoiding the conflict.

Due to cosmic storms and space fauna bombardment of all cities, the devastation on the planets (25% devastation) crippled the economy plus increased consumer goods needs because of the storms. I could not even build the anti-storm buildings because i didn't get the technology yet to build/farm rare crystals. the void worms also destroy space stations and buildings in systems on their way.
The worms destroyed my capital planet and 3 of 4 colonies and bombared them until i lost the planets entirely with no pops left on them. The whole stick led to negative ressources on everything except minerals (my mining world is the only one that didn't get constantly devastated by worms) and a lack of options to balance anything out (when 4/5 planets are hit with devastation 25%+ consumer goods increase from storms..) - I've never had bankrupcy in any run ever because I know what options i have to balance out the economy until this run. There was absolutely no way out of the death spiral during this void worm armageddon. Getting 80k fleet running in the first 65 years in captain difficulty is not possible for me nor the AI empires.

Stellaris went from an enjoyable / somewhat easy experience on captain to impossibly unfair to me. I'm used to unbalanced and buggy DLC releases from Paradox (a lot of desyncing events in multiplayer again!!) but that is absolutely ridiculous. That's the balance we get with new DLCs now? An aggressive, non-diplomacy 450k fleet threat in early game that bombs and destroys your planets ?

I'm absolutely speechless by what Paradox released as a DLC.

 

[Calvax]

I had my issues with Cosmic storms, it's definitely the worst DLC for me on account of it being boring at best and annoying at worse. Prior to this patch I didn't find it too destructive but it did force some changes due to the RNG of when a storm might pop in the early game. I haven't been able to test if the storm pathing is significantly better yet as thanks to RNG I haven't had a storm near my territory within the first 50 years.

Destroyers by 2270 is quite late but I do understand that different players play at different scales. I haven't had the worm event yet but I thought you were meant to get a situation for it that would help you make a cure? Was that not the case for you? In my current game I already got part of the technology to make a cure in the early decades of the game after completing a voidworm research project. It was available after I met them for the first time so I assumed that was the case for everyone. Is it not, or am I perhaps misunderstanding how impactful the cure research is?

 

[Groggeneral]

I had my issues with Cosmic storms, it's definitely the worst DLC for me on account of it being boring at best and annoying at worse. Prior to this patch I didn't find it too destructive but it did force some changes due to the RNG of when a storm might pop in the early game. I haven't been able to test if the storm pathing is significantly better yet as thanks to RNG I haven't had a storm near my territory within the first 50 years.

Destroyers by 2270 is quite late but I do understand that different players play at different scales. I haven't had the worm event yet but I thought you were meant to get a situation for it that would help you make a cure? Was that not the case for you? In my current game I already got part of the technology to make a cure in the early decades of the game after completing a voidworm research project. It was available after I met them for the first time so I assumed that was the case for everyone. Is it not, or am I perhaps misunderstanding how impactful the cure research is?

The issues with attacking voidworms, devastation and the storms started quite early. I believe there are some changed to the usual research output compared to pre-cosmic storms, but the economy definately felt off early.

I researched the worm immunity, then the event triggered saying something about the immunity being not as effective anymore. immunity thingy or not - if 40k hyper aggressive fauna fleets can destroy 4/5 of your planets, what's the point in some immunity rearch anyhow? Had i rushed research more, the economy would be even worse off and I was going low on military power early game already.
I just have no idea what they have done to the game. 450k is end game crisis material on slider 1x. Now this is used as early game difficulty ? What the hell happened Paradox?

 

[Calvax]

The issues with attacking voidworms, devastation and the storms started quite early. I believe there are some changed to the usual research output compared to pre-cosmic storms, but the economy definately felt off early.

There haven’t been any real balance patches in ages so nothing significant has changed with the economy. Getting hit by an early storm can slow you down though as the devastation is harder to deal with. Given the exponential nature of economy and tech growth that effect can be pronounced.

I researched the worm immunity, then the event triggered saying something about the immunity being not as effective anymore. immunity thingy or not - if 40k hyper aggressive fauna fleets can destroy 4/5 of your planets, what's the point in some immunity rearch anyhow? Had i rushed research more, the economy would be even worse off and I was going low on military power early game already.
I just have no idea what they have done to the game. 450k is end game crisis material on slider 1x. Now this is used as early game difficulty ? What the hell happened Paradox?

Typically I would have fleets in the tens of thousands by that time. Admittedly it wouldn’t be super easy if all that hit at once. Interesting to know the immunity stops working.

It’s possible it’s overtuned and it needs a nerf. It’s also possible you got unlucky. Speculating here but the void worm crisis is different to others since it’s initiated if the galactic worm population reaches a critical mass. That sounds far more random than other crises. Also on lower difficulties the AI empires would have a harder time clearing out fauna which might mean the void worms reach that threshold earlier.

 

[Thiend]

Did you change the voidworm spawn rate? Alternatively, what is your crisis difficulty?

That's both more separate voidworms and way higher strength on them than I'm seeing. I don't think this is just a feature issue, your settings are exacerbating something.

Im very open to this needing some polish but it's "some polish" and not "fundamentally broken" like Cosmic Storms remains.

 

[Bentus]

To start, I am just going to say that you're most likely correct in so far as the encounters likely need tuning, and as someone who actually likes cosmic storms (even the way they currently are implemented) I still believe there to be room for improvement there both mechanically and number wise.

However, as harsh as this may sound, you have the tools to fix this. It's on you, man. The difficulty levels are not quest objectives in a game where you are locked into EASY to HARD to VERY HARD or whatever.. so adjust them? As someone who has played since near release, I have just now after 8~ years found the settings that work for me difficulty wise and it still takes some adjustment depending on what I am trying to achieve in a given game.

If all else fails turn them off, or entirely disable the DLC.

Admittedly, not ideal. However, given the modular nature of Stellaris you're not going to get any better options. The devs seemingly balance around the default settings anyways, so any tuning up of your experience is most likely going to be seen by the devs as you taking on that responsibility yourself. You can ask, sure, but I wouldn't expect them to act on complaints like this one to the degree someone is going to satisfied.

 

[Eladrin]

Speculating here but the void worm crisis is different to others since it’s initiated if the galactic worm population reaches a critical mass. That sounds far more random than other crises. Also on lower difficulties the AI empires would have a harder time clearing out fauna which might mean the void worms reach that threshold earlier.

I'll be investigating this possibility. Most of the time the AI is pretty good at protecting themselves from them until the plague.

When voidworms are not in crisis mode, they obey a naval capacity limit, but if they're a crisis that limit is removed - this looks like this voidworm plague was overwhelmingly successful at bombarding many planets.

As a mid-game crisis, they're the equivalent of the Gray Tempest, and it looks like it won. It is kind of surprising to see them at this strength, but like some of the other mid-game crises they're time limited through the situation.

 

[Dragatus]

 

[Me_]

This is what happens when balance begins to be set around the idea that everyone is using exploits to get 1M fleetpower by 2250

 

[Losttruppen]

This is what happens when balance begins to be set around the idea that everyone is using exploits to get 1M fleetpower by 2250

They cut research in half within the last year specifically to curb that playstyle.

This seems like an outlier case, as that is far more than I've ever seen from the Khan or Greys.

 

[jedavis]

I just have no idea what they have done to the game. 450k is end game crisis material on slider 1x. Now this is used as early game difficulty ? What the hell happened Paradox?

Even Khan on Ensign, 1x crisis, medium galaxy is like 250k total spawns now (90k for the Chosen plus three 50k fleets). I'm right next to a marauder cluster in my current exterminator game and kinda worried that a 2301 khan could be game-ending.

Sometimes I think crisis triggers should be changed from date-based to "fleet power of strongest empire"-based. A date range is almost always too early or too late, but 2% per year while the most powerful normal empire's fleet is in some range would let it hit the "challenging but not overwhelming" bar more consistently.

 

[Tannhäuser Cake]

Sometimes I think crisis triggers should be changed from date-based to "fleet power of strongest empire"-based. A date range is almost always too early or too late, but 2% per year while the most powerful normal empire's fleet is in some range would let it hit the "challenging but not overwhelming" bar more consistently.

I wrote a summary about this same thing one year ago. One huge benefit is that the game would be harmed less by powercreep, as the midgame and endgame crises would provide more consistent challenges; powercreepy game updates would not make crises easier anymore, it would just make them happen earlier (which would also provide a more objective sign of powercreep that is much easier to analyse than a subjective "the game feels easier than it did a year ago").

 

[HFY]

Voidworm crisis just kicked off and 6 x 10k+ worm fleets ate the Caravaneers home base (and I guess their caravan fleets).

This is not okay mechanically nor flavor-wise -- the Caravaneers are supposed to be OLD, having survived several cycles of this stuff already.

Same deal with the Enclaves, I feel they should be immune to Voidworm shenanigans as well, and their destruction should only come at the hands of a player-peer empire.

 

[mrt1212]

Voidworm crisis just kicked off and 6 x 10k+ worm fleets ate the Caravaneers home base (and I guess their caravan fleets).

This is not okay mechanically nor flavor-wise -- the Caravaneers are supposed to be OLD, having survived several cycles of this stuff already.

Same deal with the Enclaves, I feel they should be immune to Voidworm shenanigans as well, and their destruction should only come at the hands of a player-peer empire.

sounds like its missing the 'find a new host' thing they do when Crises stomp them. I really like that they can and will do that when Im still trying to get the Galatron at 100k+ ECs, just to say I got it.

 

[Harkinian's Dinner]

I for one am glad to see the devs balancing the game at least to some extent around more skilled and thrill-seeking players and daring to throw some real curveballs and challenges into the mix. If you suck at the game or just want an easy ride, there's plenty of settings to make it easier.

I'm always frustrated to see games dumbed down for the lowest common denominator. Stellaris is one of the somewhat few games that don't make me feel like my intelligence is being insulted. Keep it up!

 

[HFY]

I for one am glad to see the devs balancing the game at least to some extent around more skilled and thrill-seeking players and daring to throw some real curveballs and challenges into the mix. If you suck at the game or just want an easy ride, there's plenty of settings to make it easier.

I'm always frustrated to see games dumbed down for the lowest common denominator. Stellaris is one of the somewhat few games that don't make me feel like my intelligence is being insulted. Keep it up!

Me: "It's not okay that the new midgame crisis is killing neutral parties that make the game more interesting. The new crisis needs to not make the game more boring."

Next poster: "GIT GUD SCRUB if you can't beat it you suck and SKILL ISSUE lulz casul"


Dude that's not even close to my complaint. I want the game to not make itself more boring. I can handle 60k worth of worms. The neutral stations and caravan fleets cannot do that. They are not built to fight any crisis. Similarly, I'd prefer if the midgame crisis factions just ignored systems like Amor Alveao and Tiyanki Vek. Dunno if the worms ignore those or not, but I want them to not wreck other space fauna.

Caravaneers make the galaxy a little more interesting.

I want the galaxy to be as interesting as possible.

 

[mrt1212]

I didn't play during cosmic storms and wanted try out both Cosmic Storms and the Grand Archive now.

Here is my experience: Its Year 2269 (less than 70 years into the game) on captain difficulty with the prebuilt Oviron Lodge Empire. Captain difficulty is usually easily doable for me (ie a good difficulty where i don't need to cheese diplomacy hacks etc.).
The strongest empire in the galaxy currently has a fleet of 14k, one has ~ 10k the rest have a lot less, many empires have 0 fleet left. I'm dead.

Because of the voidworms.

View attachment 1209623

This is around 450.000 fleet power of aggressive space fauna in just one system. They attacked my capital world with 40k, 3 of 4 colonies with 10k each and bombarded the planets constantly. I just researched destroyer ships and the first swarmer missile technology! I couldn't choose to be friendly with them, no option for diplomacy or avoiding the conflict.

Due to cosmic storms and space fauna bombardment of all cities, the devastation on the planets (25% devastation) crippled the economy plus increased consumer goods needs because of the storms. I could not even build the anti-storm buildings because i didn't get the technology yet to build/farm rare crystals. the void worms also destroy space stations and buildings in systems on their way.
The worms destroyed my capital planet and 3 of 4 colonies and bombared them until i lost the planets entirely with no pops left on them. The whole stick led to negative ressources on everything except minerals (my mining world is the only one that didn't get constantly devastated by worms) and a lack of options to balance anything out (when 4/5 planets are hit with devastation 25%+ consumer goods increase from storms..) - I've never had bankrupcy in any run ever because I know what options i have to balance out the economy until this run. There was absolutely no way out of the death spiral during this void worm armageddon. Getting 80k fleet running in the first 65 years in captain difficulty is not possible for me nor the AI empires.

Stellaris went from an enjoyable / somewhat easy experience on captain to impossibly unfair to me. I'm used to unbalanced and buggy DLC releases from Paradox (a lot of desyncing events in multiplayer again!!) but that is absolutely ridiculous. That's the balance we get with new DLCs now? An aggressive, non-diplomacy 450k fleet threat in early game that bombs and destroys your planets ?

I'm absolutely speechless by what Paradox released as a DLC.

This is actually a really interesting confluence to me - not the 450k of voidworms part but getting double dinged by fauna attacks and storms at once in general, where...lets just say for the sake of argument...

What are the options to deal with this confluence of badness, really? At least once with Storms I absolutely evacced out of a settlement to 1 pop due to a hellacious storm that wouldn't leave, and I did have nomad as is my style for peaceful runs, and like...it sucks, it feels bad, it feels wrong, but is that an intended and possible last recourse? Especially for elemental damage you can't really fight but can only kinda brace for?

I totally understand that's not possible if every place is taking it in the shorts at once, but in my case, I did have some out of the way settlements that carried the load.

 

[Thiend]

I for one am glad to see the devs balancing the game at least to some extent around more skilled and thrill-seeking players and daring to throw some real curveballs and challenges into the mix. If you suck at the game or just want an easy ride, there's plenty of settings to make it easier.

I'm always frustrated to see games dumbed down for the lowest common denominator. Stellaris is one of the somewhat few games that don't make me feel like my intelligence is being insulted. Keep it up!

I appreciate that it makes the midgame more active (it made mine a lot more fun anyway, and I didn't actually kill them... I immunized myself and it created some interesting opportunities when they stopped bombarding me) but it's also strictly bad for it to arbitrarily murder enclaves across the galaxy that I had no way of defending.

Not only does it apparently need a fix for caravaneers not asking about taking a system to move into, but all other enclaves should have this function, if not something like deliberately having them expand into your territory at max relations. I would also like to see more than one salvager enclave spawn, which from my understanding may already be something that's supposed to happen.

 

[cryptkeeper]

I appreciate that it makes the midgame more active (it made mine a lot more fun anyway, and I didn't actually kill them... I immunized myself and it created some interesting opportunities when they stopped bombarding me) but it's also strictly bad for it to arbitrarily murder enclaves across the galaxy that I had no way of defending.

Not only does it apparently need a fix for caravaneers not asking about taking a system to move into, but all other enclaves should have this function, if not something like deliberately having them expand into your territory at max relations. I would also like to see more than one salvager enclave spawn, which from my understanding may already be something that's supposed to happen.

I think you should have option to harbor a enclave, through large investment and high relationship. That way even if they are on the other side of the galaxy you can protect them + have things like think tanks.

Caveneers, I think should have a special interaction with merchant guild or megacorps where you can establish a trade outpost in your territory, which then they would ask to take that system if they are destroyed.

 

[XCodes]

Even Khan on Ensign, 1x crisis, medium galaxy is like 250k total spawns now (90k for the Chosen plus three 50k fleets). I'm right next to a marauder cluster in my current exterminator game and kinda worried that a 2301 khan could be game-ending.

Sometimes I think crisis triggers should be changed from date-based to "fleet power of strongest empire"-based. A date range is almost always too early or too late, but 2% per year while the most powerful normal empire's fleet is in some range would let it hit the "challenging but not overwhelming" bar more consistently.

If you don't have the firepower to fight the Khan, become a Satrapy. Also, Marauders are actually not hard to deal with before mid-game with Stealth Frigates.

That said, if you're not researching Destroyers until 2270 I'd have to really ask what your game settings are. I would also strongly suggest tailoring your weapons research so that your Corvettes and Frigates aren't garbage. Forget missiles, Corvettes don't have the AI to take advantage of them, you need Plasma, PD, and Torpedoes.