The Cosmic Storms Mechanical Expansion is now available!

[MrFreake_PDX]

I don't want to go against forum policy, but it honestly didn't seem like design discussions were welcome in Bug Reports.

In order for QA to say something is working as designed, they would have to go to one of the game designers and ask (or know the intended design, which again they would've gotten from the game designers). Bug reports are not a place to discuss the intended game design (unless the game is doing something other than intended), that is a discussion that would be off topic for the bug report forums and a discussion better had on the regular forums.. if that makes sense?

 

[Crysantos]

Good morning! Just wanted to share my first impression (played like 7h) as somebody who owns all DLCs with 2k+ hours gameplay - so far this DLC (got it as part of Season 08) is unfortunately a very mixed bag. While I appreciate the intention of evolving storms into something a bit more meaningful / relevant, they seem awfully complicated (rather than added beneficial complexity) and random to really provide a better gameplay experience - and turned out to be more of nuisance than something to be excited about.

I do like the visuals and the idea behind weather effects as more elaborate mechanic - but it's quite convoluted. The new origin & civics lead to a weaker, less predictable build and currently I feel that overall I'd actually rather play without this DLC than with it in the foreseeable future in its current state.

I understand that not all content will be popular with everybody and it's early impressions - but it's the first DLC I kinda regret so far or consider disabling it.

 

[fourteenfour]

If I disable the DLC will that remove the storms or will I need a mod to remove them?

 

[TtheHF]

*screenshot failed but was just of the Bug Report forum where I had dredged up two ignored reports*

Here are two up-voted issues in the bug reports that are definitely annoying enough to turn people away from the game right now that were pages deep in the reports tab and have not yet been confirmed or commented on. Maybe things like this _should_ be confirmed or commented on if you want people to believe that the bug report forum is the best place to report bug reports?

 

[TtheHF]

As for the DLC itself, I really haven't enjoyed it and have made it the only Stellaris DLC I've downvoted on Steam. I tried to experience everything I could from it in two separate runs, and the bad far outweighs the good, primarily due to pathing. Pathing around storms needs to be removed immediately. Just like turn it off right now after you read this. And then the DLC would be a pretty but annoying and so ultimately a neutral piece of paid content for an otherwise great game.

If you want to make the whole storm thing worth engaging with you need to add a new minerals-only weather station megastructure - one per system. Planet build slots are too precious for buildings which are only used, what, 3% of the time by default? And the repulsion/attraction mechanics need to be much more interactive - when I spent a civic slot/origin on storm stuff I want to have near constant storms on my home systems and I want to be storm bombing my enemies. That has the potential to be fun, and players building weather stations, if only to limit storm damage, is preferable to inwardly groaning and just turning off the DLC before their next run, as at present.

Until the pathing issue is resolved I'll be running my next campaigns with it turned off. Mainly because of the pathing but also, I suspect, another bug where storms cause retreating fleets to disappear from the game completely.

 

[HFY]

In order for QA to say something is working as designed, they would have to go to one of the game designers and ask (or know the intended design, which again they would've gotten from the game designers). Bug reports are not a place to discuss the intended game design (unless the game is doing something other than intended), that is a discussion that would be off topic for the bug report forums and a discussion better had on the regular forums.. if that makes sense?

Yes, exactly.

QA knows what the design is.

This discussion requires talking about why the design is.

It's not in-scope for the bug reports forum.

 

[Alfray Stryke]

Yes, exactly.

QA knows what the design is.

This discussion requires talking about why the design is.

It's not in-scope for the bug reports forum.

Yup. The main forum is a good place to have (healthy, respectful, calm) discussions about if you feel a design is bad and why. The suggestions forum is a good place to post “hey I have this idea about X”. Us designers often look at the forums when we have the time, e.g. I find the time if I’m waiting on a new build of the game to compile or such.

 

[Commander Tobe]

Oh boy, I got a couple of dozen hours in now with this new expansion and I really don't like it. The storms are more annoying than anything else. Sometimes my fleets won't fly through them but automatically find a way around if possible even if they hlaf to fly through half the galaxy to get to a system that is just 3 Hyperlanes away. I think I will just deactivate this DLC. Hopefully the next ones will be better again

 

[TtheHF]

Oh boy, I got a couple of dozen hours in now with this new expansion and I really don't like it. The storms are more annoying than anything else. Sometimes my fleets won't fly through them but automatically find a way around if possible even if they hlaf to fly through half the galaxy to get to a system that is just 3 Hyperlanes away. I think I will just deactivate this DLC. Hopefully the next ones will be better again

It really is frustrating that an issue this blatant was either ignored or not found during testing. QA has been an issue with Paradox products for the longest time, but this one is particularly egregious with how obvious it is.

That five weeks after launch the nearest we have to an acknowledgement of the issue, let alone an actual fix, is the head dev asking for more examples continues to rankle.

 

[Eladrin]

That five weeks after launch the nearest we have to an acknowledgement of the issue, let alone an actual fix, is the head dev asking for more examples continues to rankle.

We have a change to pathing through storms in 3.14.1, which will release on the 29th.

 

[Commander Tobe]

We have a change to pathing through storms in 3.14.1, which will release on the 29th.

It still leaves the issue (at least) for me that this already complicated game gets more busy with micromanaging planets and systems regarding the effect of storms. I couldn't be bothered to really read into the different ones but just try to repel and nullify them all. This then comes at the cost of building slots. Sorry, but this is a nightmare of micromanagement for me especially in late game. Good for all players who like that but it's not my cup of tea.