Paradox Grand Strategy: Tim Cook? How many divisions has he got?

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NoNotTheMindProbe: Aug 9, 2010; pony porn was here

Paradox should add clustered starts for Stellaris so people can play co-op federation games. It'll probably be the only interesting way to play a federation until the mechanic is fleshed out in an update or DLC.

# ? Mar 1, 2016 09:38

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# ? May 11, 2024 13:25

Ham Sandwiches: Jul 7, 2000

Baronjutter posted:

It's me, I'm the pubbie that just wants to turtle up and has actually no strategy or "eye on the prize".
If I ever did a paradox game multiplayer it would be with non-competitive friends and we'd probably mostly co-op it.

There's no reason you can't play EU4 co-op with a friend. Ally right away, stay allied all game, keep playing until you either hit 1821 or get bored.

If there's only like two people playing multi stuff like pausing can actually work, and if it's you playing co-op with a friend then negotiating it is also easier.

# ? Mar 1, 2016 20:35

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

I hope in DLC or something we get more paradoxy starting options, asymmetrical options. Symmetry is great for a serious competitive game, but for just chillin' and enjoying a good fantasy history I love my "historical starts". Would love to play a game as a minor or even pre-warp civilization and see how I survive, or try to shake up a fallen empire. It could be as simple as randomizing the development level of every nation at the start of a game. Some start just on the cusp of space travel, some with some basic starting tech, others with a few colonized systems.

I think there will be a lot of demand for this and I hope they deliver some cool expansion that adds randomized and pre-set asymmetrical options as well as making the gameplay around those starts fun.

# ? Mar 1, 2016 20:43

LaSalsaVerde: Mar 3, 2013

Yeah, thought it sounds like there will be some of that already with the fallen empire and pre-ftl civs that can dynamically advance.

Edit: I would like the zerg/tyranid trope to show up in some form as a antagonistic force to everyone. DLC could make them playable or add a smac style technology that allows you to interact with them.

It's weird but with all the uplifting and ethics I'm most excited to specialize in social tech. A far cry from eu4 and diplo points, which seems to be similar.

LaSalsaVerde fucked around with this message at 20:54 on Mar 1, 2016

# ? Mar 1, 2016 20:49

PleasingFungus: Oct 10, 2012; idiot asshole bitch who should fuck off

V for Vegas posted:

Just want to say thank you to the devs for putting the 'Continue game' button into the EU4 menu screen. It cheers me up everytime knowing I no longer have to go hunting through menus to find my save game.

Yeah, it's a small thing, but a really nice one.

# ? Mar 1, 2016 21:02

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

I love that we have the option of making a covenant style empire of racial castes and slaves, a multicultural nation of equals or a monospecies purity obsessed empire, and hopefully all styles are fun.

# ? Mar 1, 2016 21:07

Demiurge4: Aug 10, 2011

Baronjutter posted:

I hope in DLC or something we get more paradoxy starting options, asymmetrical options. Symmetry is great for a serious competitive game, but for just chillin' and enjoying a good fantasy history I love my "historical starts". Would love to play a game as a minor or even pre-warp civilization and see how I survive, or try to shake up a fallen empire. It could be as simple as randomizing the development level of every nation at the start of a game. Some start just on the cusp of space travel, some with some basic starting tech, others with a few colonized systems.

I think there will be a lot of demand for this and I hope they deliver some cool expansion that adds randomized and pre-set asymmetrical options as well as making the gameplay around those starts fun.

The "tech deck" might accommodate this to some degree if it has EU style tech groups. The fallen empires probably run off a different tech tree (or could) and you could make some asymmetrical starts based off what deck your civilization has. Say you start as humans, you get the standard tech advancement tree with the potential for sentient AI and other things, then you toss special projects on top of that through scavenged technology or ancient ruins that can open up extra tech cards from other tech groups. Some civilizations might run off biological evolution and gene sculpting which is a unique deck. I'd like to think that the Liir could make an appearance through mods with this system with their unique psycho-kinetic metallurgy and massively dense spaceships filled with oxygen rich fluid mediums.

How that actually translates into gameplay is of course another challenge but asymmetrical starts could be as simple as early space exploration -> space faring -> empire -> ancient empire starting decks.

# ? Mar 1, 2016 21:38

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

My only actual worry about stellaris, not wish list stuff, is the randomized races. When you see "France" or "Inca" on a map you instantly start a narrative in your head and you have some general idea who they are. Even in games like Master of Orion you came to sort of expect certain personalities or behavior from certain empires, or in SMAC you got to know the faction leaders. But with purely randomized races sure you might have some sort of clues when you look at them in a diplomacy screen, but on the map it's just colours and names. Is the Thalax Hegemony or Tharite Hegemonic Systems the jerks who threatened you? You just signed a trade agreement with the Sawbuttes and that has upset their moral enemy, the Wizgar Collectivized Emire. Who the gently caress are they? Everyone's just a random weird alien name. Ok they're brown on the space map, try to remember that.

At least the million german OPM's can eventually be memorized and it's quick enough to find who's who, but unless there's really good instant map-based feedback on who's who it could get really confusing, with players needing to constantly cross-check who is who. And even if you're not confused over who's who, with every race being procedural you'll probably end up remembering a dozen or so archetypes the game throws at you or worse, just lumping every alien race together as "generic weird aliens". Often procedural doesn't mean infinite variety, it results in bland sameyness or a lack of character.

# ? Mar 1, 2016 22:05

Sindai: Jan 24, 2007; i want to achieve immortality through not dying

The fact that species ethics are very discrete and have major effects should combat that. Giving each empire two or three strong traits makes them easy to remember.

# ? Mar 1, 2016 22:12

AAAAA! Real Muenster: Jul 12, 2008; My QB is also named Bort

Demiurge4 posted:

The "tech deck" might accommodate this to some degree if it has EU style tech groups. The fallen empires probably run off a different tech tree (or could) and you could make some asymmetrical starts based off what deck your civilization has. Say you start as humans, you get the standard tech advancement tree with the potential for sentient AI and other things, then you toss special projects on top of that through scavenged technology or ancient ruins that can open up extra tech cards from other tech groups. Some civilizations might run off biological evolution and gene sculpting which is a unique deck. I'd like to think that the Liir could make an appearance through mods with this system with their unique psycho-kinetic metallurgy and massively dense spaceships filled with oxygen rich fluid mediums.

How that actually translates into gameplay is of course another challenge but asymmetrical starts could be as simple as early space exploration -> space faring -> empire -> ancient empire starting decks.

I think I remember reading that that they said that fallen empires/ancient empires will not be research new techs or at least not many, and there may be mechanics in place to get these empires to come back alive if they are threatened, otherwise they will sit there thumbing their noses at the inferior races near them.

# ? Mar 1, 2016 22:43

Westminster System: Jul 4, 2009

You'll probably boil down the major players in your games pretty quickly each time based on their traits and their "race" relatively easily.

"Ah yes, the Swedish Socialist Mushroom Men, we meet again."

And of course any perceived slights they may cause. All in all, though, it works both ways, sure you have a narrative for these nations on a world map - but that can quickly get mired in "Pfft the Aztecs would of NEVER invaded MY crusader kings." type realism, where-as with this you can create any narrative you wish as the game dynamically evolves on a galactic scale.

# ? Mar 1, 2016 22:48

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

I think so long as the feedback is there we'll build our own narratives around each race we encounter, just so long as it's very easy to tell them apart. I can't remember which games, but a lot of recent 4X games had horrible feedback and forced me to constantly go into tabs to tell who I was looking at on a map. Like maybe they don't display the empire name, just the colour or logo. Or they display the leader name only in some places, the empire name only in others and so on. I hope I can just mouse over a empire's territory on the map and get a little tool tip telling me some general basic info.

# ? Mar 1, 2016 22:59

A Buttery Pastry: Sep 4, 2011; Delicious and Informative!

Baronjutter posted:

just lumping every alien race together as "generic weird aliens".

You're saying this like it's a bad thing. Tolerance is a weakness you can ill afford in the cold dark of space.

# ? Mar 1, 2016 23:15

Demiurge4: Aug 10, 2011

Humanity gets a custom start and I think they've said there will be other pre-made races. There will be plenty of options to include weird tropes and your own custom empires you get to see every game.

# ? Mar 1, 2016 23:20

Strudel Man: May 19, 2003; ROME DID NOT HAVE ROBOTS, FUCKWIT

Bort Bortles posted:

I think I remember reading that that they said that fallen empires/ancient empires will not be research new techs or at least not many, and there may be mechanics in place to get these empires to come back alive if they are threatened, otherwise they will sit there thumbing their noses at the inferior races near them.

Not researching at all would make more sense. After all, they've been around for thousands of years or whatever without substantial change; they've surely already researched whatever they were going to.

# ? Mar 1, 2016 23:30

Groogy: Jun 12, 2014; Tanks are kinda wasted on invading the USSR

Yeah the idea I got from the whole fallen empire thing is that they are decadent and won't progress.

Disclaimer: don't work on Stellaris and haven't actually asked about this because all I care about in Stellaris is space amoebas since I love them so badly.

Groogy fucked around with this message at 00:25 on Mar 2, 2016

# ? Mar 2, 2016 00:14

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

Groogy posted:

Yeah the idea I got from the whole fallen empire thing is that they are decadent and won't progress.

Disclaimer: don't work on Stellaris and haven't actually asked about this because all I care about in Stellaris is space amoebas since I love them so badly.

Can you milk space cows for space milk????
Also CK2 Decadence mechanic confirmed for Stellaris. If you expand/advance too quickly you won't be able to research!

Baronjutter fucked around with this message at 00:27 on Mar 2, 2016

# ? Mar 2, 2016 00:16

Demiurge4: Aug 10, 2011

Baronjutter posted:

Can you milk space cows for space milk????

Look, Stardew Valley just re-invented the wheel and now Stellaris needs anime husbandry or I'm cancelling my future pre-order :colbert:

# ? Mar 2, 2016 00:25

Groogy: Jun 12, 2014; Tanks are kinda wasted on invading the USSR

I don't know I'm too focused on when designing panzer division on "what would Ai Hitler do?"

# ? Mar 2, 2016 00:26

Ham Sandwiches: Jul 7, 2000

I believe the answer is "Tell Porsche to make it 20 tons heavier"

# ? Mar 2, 2016 00:29

Nitrousoxide: May 30, 2011; do not buy a oneplus phone

Groogy posted:

I don't know I'm too focused on when designing panzer division on "what would Ai Hitler do?"

Put space hedgehogs in sterllaris groogy. You know you want to.

# ? Mar 2, 2016 00:34

Demiurge4: Aug 10, 2011

"I don't care what Rommel says, hold it in reserve."

# ? Mar 2, 2016 00:34

Dibujante: Jul 27, 2004

Groogy posted:

I don't know I'm too focused on when designing panzer division on "what would Ai Hitler do?"

Surprise attack on Germany. Crazy? Crazy like a fox!

# ? Mar 2, 2016 05:23

Jobbo_Fett: Mar 7, 2014; Slava Ukrayini; Clapping Larry

"I told that General NOT. ONE. STEP. BACKWARDS!"

"Ok, how do I remove him from command again? Control D, right?"

# ? Mar 2, 2016 05:32

Psychotic Weasel: Jun 24, 2004; Bang! You're dead.

Strudel Man posted:

Not researching at all would make more sense. After all, they've been around for thousands of years or whatever without substantial change; they've surely already researched whatever they were going to.

From the developer diary concerning fallen empires it sounds like they just sit around acting superior for the most part; they won't expand, won't research things and generally won't go on the offensive but they can be spurred into action though if they determine someone or something else has become a bigger threat to them, or if you just antagonize them a lot.

A nice thing from the same diary is that the fallen empires may hold unknown dangers back from the galaxy itself. Conquering one of their planets may net you some sweet, sweet endgame tech but it could also unleash Cyberdemons from Hell so you shouldn't just go charging in.

# ? Mar 2, 2016 05:40

Marshal Prolapse: Jun 23, 2012; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

You say Cyberdemons from Hell like it was a bad thing.

# ? Mar 2, 2016 05:45

Dibujante: Jul 27, 2004

If you unleash some Ancient Evil can you just tagswap to it?

# ? Mar 2, 2016 07:30

feller: Jul 5, 2006

Dibujante posted:

If you unleash some Ancient Evil can you just tagswap to it?

You'll need the Cogs of Hell DLC first

# ? Mar 2, 2016 16:29

double nine: Aug 8, 2013

Jobbo_Fett posted:

"I told that General NOT. ONE. STEP. BACKWARDS!"

"Ok, how do I remove him from command again? Control D, right?"

CTRL-D is for Total Annihilation. You need Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start

# ? Mar 2, 2016 17:05

Riso: Oct 11, 2008; by merry exmarx

Groogy posted:

I don't know I'm too focused on when designing panzer division on "what would Ai Hitler do?"

Take pride in 300k man hours that went into a tank's production.

# ? Mar 2, 2016 17:09

Polikarpov: Jun 1, 2013; Keep it between the buoys

Groogy posted:

I don't know I'm too focused on when designing panzer division on "what would Ai Hitler do?"

Demand heavier armor and a gun thiiiiis big and god-drat the transmission.

# ? Mar 2, 2016 18:59

Enjoy: Apr 18, 2009

This is cool

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_0z1kvM6ns

# ? Mar 2, 2016 19:30

Lustful Man Hugs: Jul 18, 2010

Enjoy posted:

This is cool

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_0z1kvM6ns

This makes me want an HoI4 expansion where you play as underground resistance forces, and one of the buildings you can construct is a hidden Sten-gun workshop.

# ? Mar 3, 2016 00:51