Stellaris goes into uncharted territory with the Astral Planes expansion

Y'know, I watched the little trailer, and I went to the store page and looked at the screenshots, and . . . I dunno about this one. It looks kind of like you run across some odd events and you get to research some technologies which . . . give you access to like 10 Archaeology sites.

Weird archaeology sites in a different dimension with more story than the typical archaeology site and might get you other interesting benefits, but still I feel like maybe for "Astral Rifts whole other dimensions woo woo" it's kind of nothing much. Might skip this one unless people say it's quite something when it comes out.

I've finally reached mid-game in my current playthrough (just got Battleships) and it's actually getting a little boring now. No wars happening anymore, all systems have been claimed so we're all locked in and all anomalies and such have been researched. I'm basically just spending my time researching, building my fleet and improving my defensive starbases. Is the game normally pretty slow like this for mid-game?

Quoting: foobrewI've finally reached mid-game in my current playthrough (just got Battleships) and it's actually getting a little boring now. No wars happening anymore, all systems have been claimed so we're all locked in and all anomalies and such have been researched. I'm basically just spending my time researching, building my fleet and improving my defensive starbases. Is the game normally pretty slow like this for mid-game?

Yeah, it can be, if you look strong and you don't start a war yourself. But there should be some things starting up soon one way or another. Warring marauder clans will unify and start trying to take over the galaxy, you'll fix one of the weird gates and behind it will turn out to be the gray goo nanite people armada, some early crisis will attack, one of the stagnant ancient types will reactivate and start trying to take over the galaxy. That kind of stuff should start happening.

Me, at that stage I'm usually trying to clean up all the archaeological digs and really-high-difficulty anomalies I left alone while my priority was exploration. And trying to get to where I can build up some megastructures. And I'm not so much building up my defensive starbases, although I might do one or two badass ones at really important chokepoints, as building up my trade-network and anti-piracy starbases.

My current playthrough I've been at war a lot. Sheesh, just because I'm a devouring swarm and mean to eat them all, people don't seem to like me!


Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 20 October 2023 at 5:36 pm UTC

Quoting: Purple Library Guy

Quoting: foobrewI've finally reached mid-game in my current playthrough (just got Battleships) and it's actually getting a little boring now. No wars happening anymore, all systems have been claimed so we're all locked in and all anomalies and such have been researched. I'm basically just spending my time researching, building my fleet and improving my defensive starbases. Is the game normally pretty slow like this for mid-game?

Yeah, it can be, if you look strong and you don't start a war yourself. But there should be some things starting up soon one way or another. Warring marauder clans will unify and start trying to take over the galaxy, you'll fix one of the weird gates and behind it will turn out to be the gray goo nanite people armada, some early crisis will attack, one of the stagnant ancient types will reactivate and start trying to take over the galaxy. That kind of stuff should start happening.

Me, at that stage I'm usually trying to clean up all the archaeological digs and really-high-difficulty anomalies I left alone while my priority was exploration. And trying to get to where I can build up some megastructures. And I'm not so much building up my defensive starbases, although I might do one or two badass ones at really important chokepoints, as building up my trade-network and anti-piracy starbases.

My current playthrough I've been at war a lot. Sheesh, just because I'm a devouring swarm and mean to eat them all, people don't seem to like me!

Those events require DLC to happen though. The Marauders are part of the Apocalypse DLC, and the L-Gates are part of the Distant Stars DLC. Also, some diplomacy mechanics that are very interesting during mid-game are part of the Federations DLC.

Without those expansion packs, the game probably is quite boring during mid-game...

Quoting: suchIt looks like they're shifting focus away from adding mechanics which might be evidence something is in the works.

What? The most recent Galactic Paragons expansion had plenty of mechanics changes. This is a story pack* rather than a full expansion so it'll be focused on events rather than sweeping mechanical changes** (although it obviously must have some new mechanics for the titular Astral Rifts themselves), but that says nothing about what the next expansion will be.

*Which I didn't realize until I saw it in a PC Gamer article – this article says "a narrative-focused expansion".

**So more like Distant Stars.

Quoting: Philadelphus

Quoting: suchIt looks like they're shifting focus away from adding mechanics which might be evidence something is in the works.

What? The most recent Galactic Paragons expansion had plenty of mechanics changes. This is a story pack* rather than a full expansion so it'll be focused on events rather than sweeping mechanical changes** (although it obviously must have some new mechanics for the titular Astral Rifts themselves), but that says nothing about what the next expansion will be.

*Which I didn't realize until I saw it in a PC Gamer article – this article says "a narrative-focused expansion".

**So more like Distant Stars.

I stand corrected.

My excuse is that I'm a few dlc behind.

Exploration phase is my favorite phase in Stellaris, and anything expanding it (especially in mid- and late-game) is very much appreciated. :).

Quoting: suchMy excuse is that I'm a few dlc behind.

Relatable! I'm almost always one DLC behind in my playthroughs (a new DLC comes out, I get it, and think "I should try out the mechanics from the last one which I didn't try out when it released because I was trying out the mechanics from the previous one," etc., etc. ).

Quoting: Philadelphus

Quoting: suchMy excuse is that I'm a few dlc behind.

Relatable! I'm almost always one DLC behind in my playthroughs (a new DLC comes out, I get it, and think "I should try out the mechanics from the last one which I didn't try out when it released because I was trying out the mechanics from the previous one," etc., etc. ).

Reading up on what I'm missing I'm not sure there will be a discount deep enough for First Contact.

Sometimes I need to keep reminding myself extra hard this is how they keep those (free) updates rolling...