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I'll put off updating long enough to get to a good stopping point, at least. I might show how the Daera differ with the new content if people aren't utterly sick of them by then. I might stop a bit earlier than my original plan, but I'll try to find a good point for it.
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Nov 1, 2018 21:25
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You can always just manually revert to an earlier version even if you do update, AFAIK they're stored in the betas section of the property menu. I'm pretty sure every version of the game all the way back to 1.0 is still available.
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Nov 1, 2018 23:38
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kvx687 posted:You can always just manually revert to an earlier version even if you do update, AFAIK they're stored in the betas section of the property menu. I'm pretty sure every version of the game all the way back to 1.0 is still available. I know, but repeatedly downloading different versions off of Steam would be a PITA. I want to actually make the swap over when I update.
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Nov 2, 2018 00:01
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Judging by what my pre-Cherryh saves looked like after that update, I'm pretty sure the patch will functionally kill all existing saves, even if they can still be booted and the game will try to convert your stuff.
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Nov 4, 2018 19:00
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Work on the update delayed by the Hammer of Respiratory Infection. I might be able to manage light writing, but sitting through image processing is basically beyond my endurance right now, when I'm in danger of falling asleep from the sheer effort of existing at any given moment. Anybody have something they'd like to see that might be within my current capacity?
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Nov 6, 2018 02:59
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If you're sick and fighting sleep just sleep. Your health is more important than videogames. We'll wait, we'll bitch but we'll wait.
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Nov 6, 2018 19:47
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While you wait, I'd like to present to you the description of Commonwealth Tarocca, the most common card game played in the Commonwealth of Man. The Tarocca deck is a deck of playing cards consisting of 4 suits (Cups, Coins, Staves, and Shields) with ranks 1 - 10 and face cards Jack, Knight, Queen, and King; plus 12 cards belonging to a dedicated trump suit, divided into three quartets: the Seasons (Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring), the Winds (North, East, South, and West), and the Times of Day (Dawn, Day, Dusk, Night). The game of Tarocca is a four-player trick-taking game. Each player is dealt 17 cards, then pass three cards to the player on their right. They then declare how many points they can get that hand. The hand begins with whoever has the 1 of Cups playing that card. The player who plays the highest card of the led suit, or if cards of the trump suit are played, the last person to play a trump card, wins the trick. At the end of the hand, the tricks won are scored. One point is added for every card won, except for trump suit cards, which score minus one point. Having all four cards in a trump quartet, however, scores plus five points instead of the minus four. After scoring, if the points won equals the player's declaration for that hand, they win 10 bonus points; otherwise, the difference between the declaration and the hand's actual score is deducted. Play continues until one player meets a points goal (usually 250).
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Nov 9, 2018 09:58
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Le Guin and Megacorp release in just over two weeks- rather sooner than expected. I'll roll out a final update of this playthrough, getting us to 2285, before starting over with all the fine features of Megacorp.
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Nov 21, 2018 00:29
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nweismuller posted:Le Guin and Megacorp release in just over two weeks- rather sooner than expected. I'll roll out a final update of this playthrough, getting us to 2285, before starting over with all the fine features of Megacorp. UNIVERSE REBOOTING IN 3... 2... 1...
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Nov 21, 2018 17:22
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nweismuller posted:Le Guin and Megacorp release in just over two weeks- rather sooner than expected. I'll roll out a final update of this playthrough, getting us to 2285, before starting over with all the fine features of Megacorp. Woo, revolution!
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Nov 22, 2018 05:17
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As awesome as the ongoing development of Stellaris is, for an LP this sounds like poison, I feel for you. Luckily I've decided long ago to LP mostly dead games, or I would be in the same position sooner or later. 
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Nov 22, 2018 10:05
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Given how specifically the DLC/patch caters to this LP's content, I think it's a fair cop.
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Nov 23, 2018 00:24
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I was going to finish up image processing and uploading today, but I caught a respiratory infection from my sister over Thanksgiving. Last update of this particular LP will come after I am no longer plague-ridden.
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Nov 26, 2018 05:28
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Take care Nweis. That just gives you more time to let the expansion come out (and more importantly, for Paradox to patch it)
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Nov 26, 2018 05:42
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quote:Your courtier Nweismuller Goon has contracted the Black Plague Get better now, y'hear! Ya' can't go getting plagues all willy nilly, ain't good for ya health.
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Nov 27, 2018 16:48
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Thanks. The good wishes are appreciated. I'm working on recovering. Taking it easy and staying warm. 
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Nov 27, 2018 17:11
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Some initial observations on 2.2/Megacorp: 1) OK, yes, this is fun, and a much more involving economic game. 2) The production of 'alloys', needed for shipbuilding, seems tuned too low for the fixed threats in the galaxy (Fallen Empires, Marauders, et cetera), but they appear to be ratcheting that up in the beta branch, so it'll hit me ere long. 3) Did I mention this is fun? 4) I'm slowly contemplating some modding of living standards- even the highest living standards, for instance, provide no increase to the consumption of your richest pops (but arbitrarily increase their happiness further anyhow). Also a little too much 'classless society' silliness for my taste- I prefer my science fiction without folk-Marxist glorification. 5) All four organic Fallen Empires, if you dig into their infrastructure, population, jobs, and so forth, actually have identifiably different societies, even if they riff on similar themes. This is very neat, and I can elaborate on this if people are curious. 6) I ran into a bizarre bug where a one-system rebel empire (the planet originally colonised by an empire more primitive than mine, conquered by a midgame crisis, then revolted from one of the fragments left over) somehow got Fallen Empire level technology, despite any logic. That was a weird one. 7) AI empires are still too reluctant to redevelop buildings once they build them, and will stack up too many precinct houses during times crime is a threat, which can be long-term crippling by bleeding off way too much economic potential to pointless police forces. 8) Despite everything complained about here, it's fun. Any questions?  E: Oh right, a big complaint I have currently: 9) The way they weight population growth, intended to favor minority species, has a design goal of making planets more diverse over time, but has the unwanted side effect of very nearly halting your main species' growth in perpetuity once you get a single pop of another sort in your empire. This... doesn't feel right. nweismuller fucked around with this message at 17:20 on Dec 13, 2018 |
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Dec 13, 2018 17:12
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Yeah, I signed a migration treaty as a xenophile with every non-Blorg empire I could, but it turns out one of them had a Blorg pop which migrated to my empire, and now I have Blorg everywhere, stinking up the place.
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Dec 13, 2018 20:15
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I also got to basically the War in Heaven before finding the Terraform button...
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Dec 15, 2018 09:44
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OK, so. I'm starting to get a handle on the new update, and I want to wait for some of the patching to get out of beta and into live, but I can at least start looking at new things. I'll give my readers who bother to participate anymore a choice, here: do we want to see the Daera again (and get a direct look at the fun of corporate branch offices on our own accord), or shall we jump in as the Solar Alliance? Hopefully some of the patching will look at the population growth logic, which is currently insane, but if not, I may look to see if there are any mods that address the 'you got an immigrant, now your main species stops growing in your territory' silliness. (This can be particularly bad for Life-Seeded species, which will actually suffer population decline because their species stops growing, they start getting immigrants from everywhere, and their species has no place else to grow- it ends up looking like a demented Xenophobe aesop about the perils of immigration, which I am sure is not the intent.)
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Dec 17, 2018 16:52
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Let's see the Daera as a proper MegaCorp!
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Dec 17, 2018 17:01
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Just be a Devouring Swarm and never worry about being replaced by aliens again As per us, might as well try out the Megacorp Life with the Daera.
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Dec 17, 2018 17:03
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I too vote for the Daera. E: Also what did you think about Tarocca? Danny Glands fucked around with this message at 18:29 on Dec 17, 2018 |
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Dec 17, 2018 17:54
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Danny Glands posted:I too vote for the Daera. I actually loved it. The work some people went into to make the Commonwealth of Man less irritating to me was one of the best parts of the LP for me, here.
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Dec 17, 2018 18:58
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So, before the LP proper, I'm going to spend a moment talking about the Ruling Class in Stellaris 2.2, and how it changes based on society. Every society of individuals in 2.2 consists of Rulers, Specialists, and Workers (unless they're a Fallen Empire, and even they have jobs that are recognisably Rulers). Eventually, some developments will add additional Rulers beyond what you get by default from your capital building on a planet (in particular- you can rack up a large number of Merchants pretty easily by developing commerce). That said, there are factors that change what your ruling class is by default. By default, your Rulers from your capital are Administrators (which produce Unity and 'Amenities'- Amenities represent the various services needed by planetary populations, granting happiness bonuses if you have a surplus and penalties with a deficit. Other major sources are basic commerce- Clerks produce some Amenities- Entertainers, Medical Workers, and the capital building and luxury residence buildings), covering the professional political/administrative/bureaucratic layer of an advanced society. With a Corporate authority, these Administrators are changed to Executives, which, produce Unity, Amenities, and Trade Value- which means that just by choosing a Corporate government, you'll get a reasonable boost to trade income. Non-Corporate governments have access to several civics that change the composition of the ruling class, however, all of which are mutually-exclusive. Byzantine Bureaucracy represents a particularly large and powerful civil service, which slightly reduces the Amenities and Housing needed by the populace, and allows the construction of Bureaucratic Complexes that support even more Administrators. Exalted Priesthood, representing honest-to-God full-scale theocratic rule (as opposed to the standard 'theocratic' governments in the game, which are semi-secular governments strongly supported by religion) replaces half your Administrators (rounding up) with High Priests, which produce Unity and Amenities- but significantly more Unity than default Administrators. It also increases the Unity production of normal Priests, which are Specialists available to Spiritualist standard empires as their primary Unity producers. (Non-Spiritualists standard empires get Culture Workers and Corporate empires get Managers; the overall output of these varies, but it's worth noting Managers also produce Trade Value.) Technocracy, which, well, represents technocracy, rule by SCIENCE!, replaces half your Administrators (rounding down) with Science Directors, which produce science and Amenities, and allows Researchers (your Specialists focused on producing science) to produce one Unity apiece, helping make up for Science Directors not producing Unity. Aristocratic Elite replaces half your Administrators (rounding down) with herditary Nobles, who produce Amenities and directly boost planetary Stability, and lets you build Noble Estates to support an additional Noble Pop on a planet. Stability is partly derived from population happiness (along with crime, overcrowding, and other factors), although the importance of the happiness of differing strata varies per empire- Authoritarians mostly need to keep their Rulers happy and enough Enforcers to keep the crime from an oppressed underclass in check, while Egalitarians will have happier Workers but more importance on keeping the Workers happy. High Stability keeps a planet peaceful and productive, granting bonuses to output and trade value, while low Stability can have... bad outcomes, over and above productivity penalties. Merchant Guilds represents a particularly important commercial tradition with plenty of prominent commercial organisations, which, although they may not directly 'rule' per se, have a large and important place in the society. This swaps out half the Administrators (rounding up) with Merchants, which produce a large amount of Trade Value along with Amenities, and makes Merchants produce 2 Unity apiece, helping them serve the same Unity role Administrators do. The Solar Alliance actually has Merchant Guilds as one of its civics. Byzantine Bureaucracy and Merchant Guilds are new with Megacorp, while the requirements for Aristocratic Elite and Exalted Priesthood have changed from how they were before 2.2. Exalted Priesthood used to require Spiritualist Oligarchy- it can now also extend to Spiritualist Dictatorships. Aristocratic Elite remains restricted to Oligarchies and Imperial governments, but now also requires they be non-Egalitarian. Technocracy continues with its slightly confusing ability to apply not only to Oligarchies and Dictatorships, but also to Democracies and Imperial governments, both of which are a little tricky to square with technocracy. nweismuller fucked around with this message at 19:29 on Dec 17, 2018 |
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Dec 17, 2018 19:25
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"you have to listen to me, because science says so" turns out to be remarkably ecumenical in its application science just proves that while imperial succession/dictatorial power struggle/oligarchical maneuverings/democratic chaos is not an ideal system of governance, it is better than all the others that have been tried. look at all these examples of them failing! as opposed to our system, which is clearly running right. Yeowch!!! My Balls!!! fucked around with this message at 20:12 on Dec 17, 2018 |
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Dec 17, 2018 20:09
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To be fair, that's just because most other systems fail in filling out the correct Rulership Application Forms, paragraphs A-D and of course supplemented with 2G if they wish to file for proper Divine Emperor status. That is except in those rare cases where the ruler doesn't wish to engage in diplomatic conduct and as such wishes to dismiss their diplomatic staff in which case paragraphs B and C can be supplanted with E for peaceful isolationist types of governing and F for other occasions.
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Dec 17, 2018 23:14
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Luhood posted:To be fair, that's just because most other systems fail in filling out the correct Rulership Application Forms, paragraphs A-D and of course supplemented with 2G if they wish to file for proper Divine Emperor status. That is except in those rare cases where the ruler doesn't wish to engage in diplomatic conduct and as such wishes to dismiss their diplomatic staff in which case paragraphs B and C can be supplanted with E for peaceful isolationist types of governing and F for other occasions. Are you sure you're not confusing Byzantine Bureaucracy and Technocracy?
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Dec 17, 2018 23:41
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The Beta definitely solves the Alloy shortage.
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Dec 18, 2018 04:23
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Veloxyll posted:The Beta definitely solves the Alloy shortage. Yeah, the initial design undertuned the alloy economy. (They seemed to have forgotten to keep machine intelligences with some of their advantages in finished resource processing- not that I play much with machine intelligences, but I think machines need a bit of love at the moment.)
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Dec 18, 2018 06:03
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nweismuller posted:Are you sure you're not confusing Byzantine Bureaucracy and Technocracy? Not "Confuse" as much as "Leap from one to the other without any implication that I was about to do so"
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Dec 18, 2018 18:14
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Luhood posted:Not "Confuse" as much as "Leap from one to the other without any implication that I was about to do so" Byzantine Bureaucracy may not be the best system of government, but our models clearly show that it is the most efficient.
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Dec 18, 2018 18:38
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terrenblade posted:Byzantine Bureaucracy may not be the best system of government, but our models clearly show that it is the most efficient. The bureaucracy is expanding to meets the needs of the expanding bureaucracy.
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Dec 18, 2018 20:35
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So, my currently most overpowered build is adaptable Survivors, who have 70% habitiability for everything. It is a bit like a machine empire, but with less micromanagment because pops do grow automatically.
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Dec 21, 2018 20:10
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Also, the new pop growth and mechanics things are a bit out of bounds. I took a world with 4 alien pops on it, after just 6 years, these aliens were already 26 pops (spread across my Empire of 46 colonies), I flat out stopped having any growth of my founding species on worlds habitable to the new alien minority. Given that I did have adaptive tomb world survivors as my main species, I proceeded to gift a planet with some of my species (gene engineered to be nomadic) to an Empire I didnt like much. After 15 years, the initial 3 of my pops were close to reaching plurality status in the alien empire. Now, all I need is a mechanic in which I activates the pops of my species in that foreign empire to make a referendum favoring accession to the Russian space federation. Then I just send in a bunch of polite green things on a holiday trip.
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Dec 23, 2018 13:47
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Don't get too used to Tomb World habitability. It's s a bug that that's being given out along with Survivor.
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Dec 23, 2018 15:19
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Mightypeon posted:Also, the new pop growth and mechanics things are a bit out of bounds. Yeah, I have issues with the realism of the population growth. I've started using this mod to make things less... silly.
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Dec 23, 2018 17:13
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Just wait until one of the AI races grabs the Xenocompatability perk. Pretty much ruined the fun of my xenophile run because the 12-15 different races in my universe created cross-bread sub species of every possible combination of races, then a different AI took evolution mastery and created a dozen different versions of his own race which could each cross-breed differently with the other races even if the outcome traits were the same. Cue a 5 second freeze when trying to make a colony ship or a 2 second hang any time you check a planets pops for resettlement. I'm going xenophobe or the flesh is weak for 100% of future games just so I don't have to deal with managing 2k pops with 100+ races. I wish there was a way just to convert selected races to synths instead of your core pop. I love the update but the late game now grinds down to absolute misery even before the end game crisis have appeared.
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Dec 23, 2018 22:01
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acidia posted:cross-bread sub species Sounds like there are issues 'baked in' to Xeno-Compatibility. *grins*
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Dec 24, 2018 04:09
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A very merry Peace Festival (+10% happiness!) to all my readers awaiting the rebirth of the LP in a new form. Currently mostly waiting on JoeBloe getting over some illness and updating our modding efforts for 2.2.
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Dec 25, 2018 17:32
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