Stellaris channels the spirit of exploration and randomness,
it bravely throws open the doors to a giant galaxy, with 1000 star systems and
over a dozen initial space empires being a MEDIUM
game map. Alien races and anomalies are procedurally generated, and each
playthrough is distinctly unique from an interplay of your starting choices (species,
home planet, form of government, weapon preference, space travel method, and
more), and where you start (edge of galaxy vs middle, in the middle of an
armada of enemies or relatively unoccupied space).
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| Your choice of traits defines which forms of government your people can choose from |
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| A 1000 planet medium sized map |
As a new series from Paradox Interactive, seasoned masters
of the grand-strategy genre, Stellaris marries Paradox’s meticulous approach to
multi-layered simulations from its flagship Europa Universalis and Crusader
Kings series with real-time 4X gameplay to make the hybrid that is Stellaris. Thankfully,
due to the nature of this hybrid, Stellaris is a lot more accessible to
newcomers than the earlier mentioned offerings, to the extent that I felt familiar
with what I was doing around six hours in (though I’m still uncovering new
systems I’d overlooked 20 hours later). Believe me when I say that this
accessibility is a major achievement for the studio.
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| How you can react to other races is dependent on your traits |
As for the game’s rhythm: you start out from a single planet
of sentients beginning to explore the galaxy and send out science vessels to
map out nearby space, occasionally encountering a random anomaly which can be
researched for growth benefits and also some exceptional writing. You expand
your empire through colonizing new worlds (and spinning them off into
independent territories which you do not need to manage directly), fighting
wars of conquest, researching new technology, and forming uneasy alliances with
your galactic neighbors. In the end game, one of three different galactic
catastrophes strikes (Zerg swarms / Intergalactic Invasion / Sentient AI
Rebellion), which cannot be negotiated with (only fought). This last minute
throwing down the gauntlet and testing the strength of the empire you’ve built
makes for a thrilling conclusion (do not take this challenge lightly, defeat is
very possible). A typical game easily spans upwards of 15 hours.
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Highly Militaristic nations can decide to shout down the 'Zerg'
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If there’s one thing Stellaris nails, it’s role-playing at
scale. The conversation choices, science options, and responses to random
events are tailored to your empire. A militaristic nation will be able to tell
the Zerg to go back to whatever galaxy they came from, where all others stay
quiet. You can encounter Russell’s Teapot in the game as a random event, and
researching it gives Spiritual races the confidence that their beliefs are
correct (there is a god), while materialistic races are unable to understand
anything from examining the teapot and use the time spent examining it to
understand society better (they cannot comprehend a god, so work at making
society better). There’s also a good deal of sci-fi homages, with ring worlds
(Halo), Hyperlanes (just waiting for a Mass Effect conversion), multiple
fundamentally different travel technologies, and a look at various issues in
space- slavery, sentience, genetic modification, psyonics, governments and
elections, aging - all within the game’s systems.
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| The choice of FTL technology significantly changes the play experience |
Unfortunately, diplomatic options are limited and this restricts
most of your interactions with other nations to armed conflict. The combat engine
in the game is simplistic (perhaps intentionally to allow real time management
at scale), and does not allow prioritized targeting during battles, the only
choice you have is to call the retreat if required. An over reliance on the
violence of action is a current shortcoming with the base game, especially given
that combat does not feel intuitive, and the only useful guideline is to send
in stronger fleets with a variety of ship sizes. The UI also stumbles at time
to carry the immense weight of the number of systems to manage (leader, colonies,
sectors, species, and many, many more), though it’s much simpler and more
accessible than other Paradox works. Tech trees are slightly confusing, and
there’s no fleshed out overarching galactic council or spying. I wholeheartedly
expect to see fixes to many of these issues over the next two years between the
mods and in-house DLC. It is a great game, edging towards exceptionality, and
will cross that threshold with DLC, like most Civilization games before it.
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| One version of how the Pyramids came to be, can happen while uplifting a less developed race to space faring status |
To summarize, Stellaris brings grand-strategy to space in a
meaningful way that is approachable to enthusiasts without being oversimplified
for experts. Buy it now for a great platform, or later when DLC is out to get a
better fleshed out experience.
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| Space warfare against the Zerg, I mean Protheryn |
Wrap Up
Comparing Offworld and Stellaris, both are excellent
strategy games but with radically different scopes. Offworld is far more
approachable, where Stellaris is far more robust. Offworld does what it sets
out to do exceedingly well, while Stellaris will achieve far more than its
designers intentionally planned (as with Civilization IV and V before it). Stellaris
demands long stretches of your time, while Offworld is highly enjoyable in
bursts. If you’re on a limited budget, this article should have nudged you one
way or the other, personally I’d say both are meaningful additions to a
strategy gamer’s stable and both push the envelope further for the genre.
Games purchased on Steam, playtime OWTC: 10 hours, Stellaris 20 hours
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