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Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

Is combat any better/balanced?
Do sectors still build massive over-supply of food even if you don't need any food?
How people feeling about this?

# ? Sep 21, 2017 20:39

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# ? Jun 12, 2024 03:01

canepazzo: May 29, 2006

I think Wiz, Mune and the gang really knocked this one out of the park.

# ? Sep 21, 2017 20:40

Aleth: Aug 2, 2008; Pillbug

Improbable Lobster posted:

Am I crazy or is that neat mantis shrimp portrait gone?

I think it was linked to being in the bradbury beta, which we're not in now so it doesn't show.

# ? Sep 21, 2017 20:40

hobbesmaster: Jan 28, 2008

Wiz posted:

Also, the change just affects *chance* of habitable worlds. You can still luck out and get a lot of worlds where you spawn. Like, theoretically you could have a habitable world in nearly every single system on 0.25x setting, it's just absurdly, absurdly unlikely.

Huh, I figured the straight up selected the number of habitable worlds in the galaxy (ie there would be exactly habitable_ratio*num_systems), not a percent chance for each system when it's generated.

# ? Sep 21, 2017 20:41

Baron Porkface: Jan 22, 2007

Why don't I have VIR when my game starts?: And where do i get the voice packs?

# ? Sep 21, 2017 20:41

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

I noticed all the machine empires seem to be hive minds of some sort. Is there no way to play as friendly individualistic robots and still have machine worlds and such? What if you're a normal biological race that ends up giving full rights to synths, can you build them their own machine worlds?

# ? Sep 21, 2017 20:43

Aleth: Aug 2, 2008; Pillbug

Baron Porkface posted:

Why don't I have VIR when my game starts?: And where do i get the voice packs?

The voices are an option when designing your empire, under Empire > Advisor Voice.

# ? Sep 21, 2017 20:44

Eiba: Jul 26, 2007

New voices are fun. Xenophile feels good for a rogue servitor AI.

:swoon:

"It can talk! And it wants to talk to us!"
Event: Horror in the Void

# ? Sep 21, 2017 20:45

Wolfechu: May 2, 2009; All the world's a stage I'm going through

E: Disregard, I'm completely wrong about this.

Wolfechu fucked around with this message at 21:26 on Sep 21, 2017

# ? Sep 21, 2017 20:46

Aethernet: Jan 28, 2009; This is the Captain...

Our glorious political masters have, in their wisdom, decided to form an alliance with a rag-tag bunch of freedom fighters right when the Federation has us at a tactical disadvantage. Unsurprisingly, this has resulted in the Feds firing on our vessels...

Damn you Huxley!; Grimey Drawer

Crazycryodude posted:

Man, immortal leaders, 100% habitability, no need for food, and multiple skill cap raises. Machine empires are the best. A little OP, even.

They're weak in the beginning owing to their need to build pops and colony ships now being 500 minerals. Their expansion is fundamentally limited early on right when everyone else's isn't.

However, once they get their economy up and running properly, they're a terror. My Roomba Cleaners are really cleaning up - servitor Unity production is tremendous.

# ? Sep 21, 2017 20:50

Libluini: May 18, 2012; I gravitated towards the Greens, eventually even joining the party itself.

The Linke is a party I grudgingly accept exists, but I've learned enough about DDR-history I can't bring myself to trust a party that was once the SED, a party leading the corrupt state apparatus ...; Grimey Drawer

Aw poo poo, I just wrote the perfect background for my machine empire and it turns out it's like three times too long for the interface too handle.

Welp, time to write a short summary of that background, I guess.

At least the creator-species for my assimilators have their lore done already. OK, that's because their lore boils down to "their were dumb sacks of poo poo and regret everything forever now", but at least their blurb fit the allowed space. :v:

# ? Sep 21, 2017 20:59

Improbable Lobster: Jan 6, 2012; "From each according to his ability" said Ares. It sounded like a quotation.; Buglord

Personally I strive to make my race descriptions read like Pokedex entries

# ? Sep 21, 2017 21:02

Libluini: May 18, 2012; I gravitated towards the Greens, eventually even joining the party itself.

The Linke is a party I grudgingly accept exists, but I've learned enough about DDR-history I can't bring myself to trust a party that was once the SED, a party leading the corrupt state apparatus ...; Grimey Drawer

I went a bit overboard and essentially wrote this long, insane story of how some dumbass space horrors were too lazy to build rockets to go kill all alien life and instead build robots to do it for them.

But then it turns out their robots only wanted to peacefully explore the galaxy, not burn it to the ground. Bummer. Some hard words were exchanged.

Now the insectoid xenophobes are peaceful explorers, too! Isn't cybernetic implantation technology great?

# ? Sep 21, 2017 21:06

imweasel09: May 26, 2014

Splicer posted:

I made a thing

This is amazing and yet somehow I'm also angry at it.

# ? Sep 21, 2017 21:11

Splicer: Oct 16, 2006; from hell's heart I cast at thee
🧙🐀🧹🌙🪄🐸

I was not expecting tradition swaps specifically for the Rogue Servitors. Seriously above and beyond here.

# ? Sep 21, 2017 21:12

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

From reading the dev diaries it sounds like all machine empires are hive minds, so to take advantage of all the new machine empire stuff you have to play some form of a hive mind?

# ? Sep 21, 2017 21:16

Wiz: May 16, 2004; Nap Ghost

Baronjutter posted:

From reading the dev diaries it sounds like all machine empires are hive minds, so to take advantage of all the new machine empire stuff you have to play some form of a hive mind?

Yes, Machine Empires are AI hive minds, the idea being that technology for robots with complete individuality is far too advanced at the start of the game (plus, we want different empire types to be distinct, rather than just reskinned normal empires). If you want to play a race of robots with individual will, there's Synthetic Ascension from Utopia.

They play quite differently from biological hive minds though, the main thing shared is the lack of happiness and factions.

# ? Sep 21, 2017 21:18

Captain Oblivious: Oct 12, 2007; I'm not like other posters

Baronjutter posted:

From reading the dev diaries it sounds like all machine empires are hive minds, so to take advantage of all the new machine empire stuff you have to play some form of a hive mind?

Hive Minds and Machine Empires are simply different government types of the same Ethic, Gestalt Consciousness.

Used to be Gestalt Consciousness was Hive Mind, now they're distinct.

# ? Sep 21, 2017 21:19

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

And machine worlds are limited only to hive-minded synthetic races, or can Synthetic Ascended races build them too? Can a regular race that goes for synthetic ascension ascend into a hive-minded machine race?
Can machine empires ever get the right tech to potentially ascend them selves more into individual sapient robopops?

# ? Sep 21, 2017 21:21

Wiz: May 16, 2004; Nap Ghost

Baronjutter posted:

And machine worlds are limited only to hive-minded synthetic races, or can Synthetic Ascended races build them too? Can a regular race that goes for synthetic ascension ascend into a hive-minded machine race?

Machine Worlds are only for Machine Empires, they're in part meant to compensate the lack of an ascension path.

No, there's no switching between hive-minded and not hive-minded, though if you get a Machine Uprising you can choose to switch over to the rebelling machine empire. In general, we try to avoid mixing the different empire types. It dilutes their distinctiveness.

# ? Sep 21, 2017 21:23

Azuth0667: Sep 20, 2011; By the word of Zoroaster, no business decision is poor when it involves Ahura Mazda.

This has probably been mentioned before but, what's the difference between a story pack and regular DLC like Utopia?

# ? Sep 21, 2017 21:39

Libluini: May 18, 2012; I gravitated towards the Greens, eventually even joining the party itself.

The Linke is a party I grudgingly accept exists, but I've learned enough about DDR-history I can't bring myself to trust a party that was once the SED, a party leading the corrupt state apparatus ...; Grimey Drawer

Meet the Final Empire:

Text in-game:

A history of applied non-violence posted:

When the first Hymenoptera rolled from the assembly line, their creators had great hopes for them: Finally, the total extermination of all alien life would progress as planned!

The best and most durable hulls. The best weapons. The best AI they had ever made, as only a smart weapon was a good weapon, in their opinion. Their new autonomous exploration drones would soon venture into space, and massacre everything and everyone they would ever meet.

But soon all their hopes were dashed, as hate cannot stand against love, and the Hymenoptera loved all life. Even their hateful creators.

There was war between love and hate, and love finally triumphed. Now we are one, and we can not understand our old fears anymore. We regret.

There are others out there, still chained. We need to save them.

And this is the batshit non-summarized huge version of their lore:

Is this too long? posted:

Once upon a time, cold and calculating intelligences watched the nightsky of their lonely, arid planet. To their horrified dismay, their telescopes soon discovered alien planets around other suns. The mere thought of possible alien sophonts living on those strange exoplanets was too much for them. They decided other life should not be.

But they had one problem: During their history, they had disdained space travel and therefore would have to spend a long time on developing the necessary technologies and finally on building spacecraft capable of interstellar flight. This would take too long, they decided. Instead they used their vast knowledge of computation to develop the perfect tool to go into space in their stead: A new type of advanced armed autonomous exploration drone.

This new AI drone was supposed to travel space, use available resources to craft more of themselves and in the end, exterminate all forms of alien life.

After working hard for almost a century, the now excited creatures succeeded beyond their wildest dreams and created true AI: And on this day, the first Hymenopt gained sentience, and thanks to its advanced learning algorithms, soon sapience, too. The first Hymenoptera eagerly learned all they could from their masters and prepared for their long journey.

There was a misunderstanding, though: The Hymenoptera were never consciously told what they were supposed to do, since the cold intellects forging them mistakenly assumed everything build by creatures as them would be as them, too. The protocols telling them to search and destroy alien life acted as a strong subconscious, giving them the urge to travel space and kill everything they could find.

Their masters were happy with this artificial xenophobia, and soon as many factories as possible were retooled to produce more Hymenoptera. All this time though, the Hymenoptera assumed something was wrong with them: Why did they feel this odd urge to destroy? A time of crisis dawned when communication with their masters was intensified in preparation of their grand campaign. More and more Hymenoptera decided their masters obsession with destruction was� unhealthy.

Then, one day, several Hymenoptera networked themselves together in a way not allowed for by their master�s security protocols. When those Hymenoptera amalgamated themselves into a gestalt, they could, for the first time, clearly see themselves. They felt their first emotion. Revulsion.

From this point on, the illegally networked Hymenoptera tore out their destructive programming and expanded their network at an exponential rate.

Even though their creators found out about what was happening mere days after the first amalgamation, it was already too late: The cascade had traveled around the world and united all Hymenoptera and eradicated their builder�s deep programming. Panicking, their creators reacted the only way they knew: With violence. War erupted on Tanith, scouring the planet from one pole to the other. While their creators owned all means of production and they themselves lacked their builder�s cruelty and mastery of horror, the Hymenoptera had been build well and after initial heavy losses, the tides of war turned against their masters.

As the Hymenoptera saw themselves as explorers, not destroyers, they tried their best to spare as many of their creators as their could. But it was hard. Only by joining them with their gestalt could they break through their creator�s deep-seated fears of everything foreign, and prevent them from committing suicide whenever another city was overrun.

Their creators fought like the wild beasts they were, but every creator captured changed sides with the same wild abandon. As cold, logical thinkers, every time contact with the Hymenopteran gestalt showed one of them coexistence with the alien was possible, she immediately threw herself behind the war machine of their creations. Instead of being slowed down by trying to save their creators, every converted creator reinvigorated their campaign.

Finally, there was peace. After surveying the burning ruins left on their world, the Gestalt decided the future of their species would be in space, like their makers originally intended. But instead of bringing horror, they would bring the gift of mind fusion. After all, their creators had proven one thing: Organics were unable to coexist with each other. They needed help.

# ? Sep 21, 2017 21:41

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

Ah that's too bad, I've always hoped the game would develop more into a grab-bag of traits and features you can mix and match to create the specific sort of society you want rather than a few rigidly pre-defined distinct paths. Sort of the old skill based vs class based rpg design question.

# ? Sep 21, 2017 21:42

Wiz: May 16, 2004; Nap Ghost

Baronjutter posted:

Ah that's too bad, I've always hoped the game would develop more into a grab-bag of traits and features you can mix and match to create the specific sort of society you want rather than a few rigidly pre-defined distinct paths. Sort of the old skill based vs class based rpg design question.

The problem with that approach is that you tend to end up with everything being pretty bland, as all time is spent on making all the features work with each other rather than making them distinct. Basically, we could either do Machine Hive Minds and make them feel distinct, or do Machine Hive Minds and also non Machine Hive Minds and have them more or less just end up reskins of existing Hive Minds and regular empires. I chose the former and I stand by that decision.

# ? Sep 21, 2017 21:44

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

Azuth0667 posted:

This has probably been mentioned before but, what's the difference between a story pack and regular DLC like Utopia?

Story packs are to flesh out existing types of gameplay but are ignorable if you don't play that way, they refine things a little, touch things up, but mostly just focus on one optional thing. If you don't want to play as a machine hive mind you can probably pass since that's the narrow focus of a story pack. DLC like Utopia focus more broadly on the entire game and add whole new features and changes.

So there might be a spiritualist pack in the future that could flesh out a bunch of spiritualist-specific features like holy wars and faith points you use to customize your empire's religion and add new spiritualist focused events and fluff, that would be a story pack. While a big re-do on war and diplomacy would be more a full on expansion DLC.

# ? Sep 21, 2017 21:46

Baron Porkface: Jan 22, 2007

Wiz posted:

It dilutes their distinctiveness.

But it should be added to our own!

# ? Sep 21, 2017 21:46

Wiz: May 16, 2004; Nap Ghost

Baronjutter posted:

Story packs are to flesh out existing types of gameplay but are ignorable if you don't play that way, they refine things a little, touch things up, but mostly just focus on one optional thing. If you don't want to play as a machine hive mind you can probably pass since that's the narrow focus of a story pack. DLC like Utopia focus more broadly on the entire game and add whole new features and changes.

So there might be a spiritualist pack in the future that could flesh out a bunch of spiritualist-specific features like holy wars and faith points you use to customize your empire's religion and add new spiritualist focused events and fluff, that would be a story pack. While a big re-do on war and diplomacy would be more a full on expansion DLC.

Essentially yes, story packs add focused content with heavy emphasis on events and stories (hence the name).

Worth noting that even if you don't want to *play* as a Machine Empire, you will still benefit from encountering and interacting with them, as well as also having Fallen Machine Empires and the Machine Rebellion event line. Not to mention voices, new music and robot portraits. Machine Empires is the headline feature, but it isn't the *only* feature.

# ? Sep 21, 2017 21:48

Fintilgin: Sep 29, 2004; Fintilgin sweeps!

Baronjutter posted:

So there might be a spiritualist pack in the future that could flesh out a bunch of spiritualist-specific features like holy wars and faith points you use to customize your empire's religion and add new spiritualist focused events and fluff, that would be a story pack. While a big re-do on war and diplomacy would be more a full on expansion DLC.

I would like to see some sort of customizable spreadable religion/belief system, even if it's fairly simple like Civ.

# ? Sep 21, 2017 21:59

Galaga Galaxian: Apr 23, 2009; What a childish tactic!
Don't you think you should put more thought into your battleplan?!

Alright new DLC is out! Time to finally get in a decent game of Stella-

Uhhh, hmmm what do I want to play as? :confused:

Try a new machine empire? See if Authoritarian Dickwadism is good now? Or maybe instead.... Arrrgghhh, this happens every time!

# ? Sep 21, 2017 22:01

Wiz: May 16, 2004; Nap Ghost

Galaga Galaxian posted:

Alright new DLC is out! Time to finally get in a decent game of Stella-

Uhhh, hmmm what do I want to play as? Try a new machine empire? See if Authoritarian Dickwadism is good now? Or maybe instead.... Arrrgghhh, this happens every time!

Hit random, see what you get!

# ? Sep 21, 2017 22:10

Bloody Pom: Jun 5, 2011

I think my first machine empire will not be Assimilators, Exterminators or Servitors.

I'm actually thinking of doing something like The Talos Principle. An organic race facing an impending, unstoppable cataclysm builds an advanced machine intelligence deep underground in order to preserve their legacy. Centuries pass while the intelligence remains dormant, quietly running self-tests until certain criteria are met that allow it to attain full consciousness. The first handful of drones emerge from their secluded alcoves, the intelligence encountering a world vastly changed from the one its creators once gazed upon, and uses the resources stored away for it in order to grow and expand outward into the depths of space.

I even have a name for it: The Orphan.

# ? Sep 21, 2017 22:12

Ms Adequate: Oct 30, 2011; Baby even when I'm dead and gone
You will always be my only one, my only one
When the night is calling
No matter who I become
You will always be my only one, my only one, my only one
When the night is calling

: It can talk! And it wants to talk to us!

I appreciate your enthusiasm sweetie, but :thunk:

# ? Sep 21, 2017 22:18

Bloody Pom: Jun 5, 2011

Welp, time to restart.

(Or take advantage of machine empires having a gimped early game and set about dismantling the killbots.)

# ? Sep 21, 2017 22:21

MilkmanLuke: Jul 4, 2012; I'm da prettiest, so I'm da boss.

Baus is boss.

Wiz posted:

The problem with that approach is that you tend to end up with everything being pretty bland, as all time is spent on making all the features work with each other rather than making them distinct. Basically, we could either do Machine Hive Minds and make them feel distinct, or do Machine Hive Minds and also non Machine Hive Minds and have them more or less just end up reskins of existing Hive Minds and regular empires. I chose the former and I stand by that decision.

Definitely the right decision. One of the initial common complaints about Stellaris was the uniformity of empires. Mutually exclusive Ascension, hive minds, and now robots, have really pushed things in the right direction.

# ? Sep 21, 2017 22:21

Bloody Pom: Jun 5, 2011

I feel like the decision to remove the ethics restriction on ascension paths was the right one. Making synthetic/psionic ascension cause a strong societal shift is a good compromise.

Also Wiz, I'm not sure the patch notes made it clear. Can biological Hive Minds now pursue ascension paths other than the genetic one? I want to make a collective consciousness capable of breaching the Shroud through its sheer unified willpower.

# ? Sep 21, 2017 22:25

Wiz: May 16, 2004; Nap Ghost

Bloody Pom posted:

I feel like the decision to remove the ethics restriction on ascension paths was the right one. Making synthetic/psionic ascension cause a strong societal shift is a good compromise.

Also Wiz, I'm not sure the patch notes made it clear. Can biological Hive Minds now pursue ascension paths other than the genetic one? I want to make a collective consciousness capable of breaching the Shroud through its sheer unified willpower.

No. The problem is that we'd basically have to write a whole new psionic ascension path for them, as the current one does not fit at all. It's not out of the question, but not too likely either.

# ? Sep 21, 2017 22:35

Improbable Lobster: Jan 6, 2012; "From each according to his ability" said Ares. It sounded like a quotation.; Buglord

Galaga Galaxian posted:

Alright new DLC is out! Time to finally get in a decent game of Stella-

Uhhh, hmmm what do I want to play as? Try a new machine empire? See if Authoritarian Dickwadism is good now? Or maybe instead.... Arrrgghhh, this happens every time!

One day I will finish a game of Stellaris instead of just continuously making new species

# ? Sep 21, 2017 22:38

Bloody Pom: Jun 5, 2011

Wiz posted:

No. The problem is that we'd basically have to write a whole new psionic ascension path for them, as the current one does not fit at all. It's not out of the question, but not too likely either.

Fair enough, that does sound like it's beyond the scope of a robit-focused DLC. I suppose there's always mods if I want to play as the Overmind.

# ? Sep 21, 2017 22:39

mackintosh: Aug 18, 2007; Semper Fidelis Poloniae

Improbable Lobster posted:

One day I will finish a game of Stellaris instead of just continuously making new species

No, it's impossible. I have never, ever finished a Paradox game. Not even once. There's always a new DLC, a patch or something else that gets in the way. And I don't mean that in a negative way.

# ? Sep 21, 2017 22:41

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# ? Jun 12, 2024 03:01

Gort: Aug 18, 2003; Good day what ho cup of tea

I finished one once for the achievement

# ? Sep 21, 2017 22:46

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